Unnoticed Yet Still Living
by Phanzuru
Summary: "I want to be noticed. I want to be praised. I want to be liked." With self loathing thoughts, she couldn't be satisfied with herself. Alone, miserable, and hunted. This was the way of life she deals with occasionally. Kioshi knew this as he was always unnoticed in the haystack as a single needle. How would his quiet life change when he meets a certain witch in the place of Shido?
1. Chapter 1

I never believed in a change of fate. It was always destined to stay as a part of your life like a shadow. I hated my own shadow. The shadow that always followed me from the day that I first came to school. I was never the one to express myself out in the open to people. I could never trust my own secrets to others. I didn't have any friends in my entire life. It didn't matter to anyone though because to them, I appeared out of nowhere. No background history, no parents, no nothing. I was an anomaly to everyone. I didn't matter to anyone. All I needed to do was work. I wouldn't go anywhere in life if I didn't continue to work. Life would always be the same for me. Quiet and uneasy.

It was a nice afternoon. A nice stroll outside always made me feel calm. With all that had happened in school today, I felt that I needed the walk. People were outside speaking to each other, talking about their favorite games, or what anime has came out recently. For me, I didn't share those same conversations to other people. Maybe it was because people didn't like me. Or the fact that I was an anomaly. I don't seem different from most people so what was wrong with me? With closed eyes, my feet carried me wherever they wanted to go now. I was lost in my thoughts to even think about where I was going. I just needed to continue to walk to catch up on my mind. Could I even be scared of the fact that I didn't know where I was going? Alarms were ringing in my head telling me to stop and go back. Even if those alarms are the alarms that brought fear into people.

The Spacequake alarm had started ringing.

Today was really a bad day.

* * *

Today's morning had been a nice morning. Sleeping in class wasn't the best idea when all I had to do in life was work. I had to admit it, I was entirely stressed out. Maybe all of this work was getting to me now.

"Shido, Shido! It's a new day of school!" Tohka, every classes energetic high school girl was always next to Shido Itsuka.

"C-Calm down Tohka! You're going to make a embarrassing scene!" Now that I think about it, they always make the class seem so lively. There wasn't a single day where those two wasn't together that brought attention to them. It didn't matter to me. Because I didn't matter to them. Soon, class started and I went along with the work assigned to me with no problems. But as soon as school ends, it was time to go home. Grabbing my things, I got off my seat to walk towards the door. But starting today, starting after this event, I wished I was never noticed ever again.

"Ooof!" I had bumped into Shido Itsuka of all people. It was a accident obviously. I wasn't watching where I was going and I had bumped into him. Even the slightest accident could be forgiven.

"Oh, sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going and bumped into you." Shido said apologetically. Strange, I was the one who bumped into him and yet he apologizes to me. Why was that?

"..." I don't know why, but I didn't feel the need to respond to him. At that time, I felt that if he apologized, then there's no point to furthering this conversation. But was that the right thing to do? I soon found out the answer when someone roughly grabbed my arm.

"Apologize to him." That monotone voice. It was Origami who started speaking to me, and it was her who had her hand grasped on my arm.

"W-Wait Origami! It was my fault, not his!" Seeing that the scene was enticing the crowds in the room, Shido quickly responded.

"Wrong Shido. When after taking 10 steps forward, you will always try to speak with Tohka or the others. You only walked 5 steps before being pushed back by him. He was the one that bumped into you, so he should be the one apologizing." Origami sure knew a lot of things about Shido. Wouldn't that be considered as stalking material?

"Apologize to him. Now." As her monotone voice started to become threatening, her hold on my shoulder started to tighten. But I didn't feel the pain of any of it.

"I'm-" Before I even spoke, I had listened to the crowd that was in the classroom.

"What's that guy's name again?"

"He's in our class, and I didn't even notice?"

"He bumped into Shido of all people and now he has to deal with Origami. This will end up bad for him."

"He's very quiet, but I don't think he has any friends."

"He doesn't? Poor guy."

I didn't know who most of these people were. All I could tell about them was that they feel bad for me. I haven't seen these faces directed at me before. I'm starting to become the center of attention now so I think it would be best if I left as this was now.

"I'm sorry." Quickly bowing down, I had managed to release the hold that Origami had on me and quickly rushed outside the door. I had to get away as far as possible.

Was this starting to become one of the worst days of my life?

* * *

The moment that alarm went silent, I found myself back into reality. The reality that I found myself in was the abandoned amusement park that had been left out for possibly more than 5 years. Thinking about today was starting to make me get a headache. From now on, I shouldn't be so conflicting as to what I'm going to do. It would probably be best if I left to back now.

How do I get back home again?

"Such a rare sight. Usually when I arrive, the AST would already be here to fire at me." The sudden voice had me turn my head around to the person who had spoke...

A woman was standing on top of the building in front of me.

She's not normal. She was anything far from normal. The witch hat that she was wearing on top of her head had been a dead give away. Not only that, she was wearing something that even a cosplayer would be wearing. Was she cosplaying? Was she a spirit? Why am I thinking so much to myself?

"Don't be afraid young one. You look as still as my broom. I'm not going to eat you or anything." The jade haired woman had already been in my face without me realizing it. I should really stop losing myself to my own thoughts.

"Hm, you have messy purple hair like you had just recently out of your bed. Say, why is such a cute boy like yourself out here when it's dangerous?" The alarms should had been ringing as soon as I came here. You shouldn't be playing around when a spirit is around you know?" Grabbing my chin, she stared into my eyes with a bright smile.

"Um..." I haven't spoke in a long time to anyone so I don't know how to converse with anyone.

"C'mon, tell me. I won't spread your secret out in the world. I promise." She continued to look in my eyes. Were they dead to her? I haven't felt my face muscles move for a long time.

"I...was taking a walk." I managed to say to her. But that answer seemed to get her more giddy.

"Oh a walk you say? All the way to where I was going to appear from the spacequake?" Her smile started to spread even wider.

"I...was thinking about my day and I really didn't hear any of the alarms. I'm...sorry." I had to speak my honest answer. There was a spirit in front of me. I would be easily killed with the wrong words.

"That's alright, mistakes happen. Please, do make sure to watch where you're going then. Let's get you home then. What's your name?" Do I give her my name? My name represents me and for it to be easily said from somewhere else is like it was stolen away from me.

"It's...Kioshi." My mind decided the answer before my heart did.

"Kioshi...what a cute name. Well then Kioshi, my name is Natsumi. Where do you live? I'll take you back there if you want." Her hands still cupped my cheeks. Was she ever going to let go?

"Um...why would you want-" Before I answered, she cut me off.

"Tell me Kioshi...am I cute?" Natsumi had moved her face closer to mine in desperation to hear my answer.

"Is... there something wrong to be being cute?" Why would I even answer to this?

"Nothing. I was just curious. But seriously, am I cute?" Instead of cupping my cheeks, she held my shoulders in place. And...her face was really, really close to mine now.

"Um...someone might get the wrong idea with this scene so could you let go of me?" I tried my best being reasonable. But with her holding my shoulders in place like this, of course I would be uncomfortable.

"No one has ever come to this place other than the AS-you have a good point. No matter them, am I cute!?" She had raised her voice even more. Was she really desperate on hearing if she was cute or not?

"You are very pretty." I said with a monotone voice. If I didn't answer, she was going to kill me with her powers. But strange as it is, while she tightens her grip on me, I still don't feel pain from her. Just like Origami.

"What about me is pretty?"

"Your jaded eyes. You style of clothing, and your hair." I'm really not that good at complimenting a girl. Maybe I should ask Shido. Doesn't he have a girlfriend already?

"Is that all? Is that all that makes me cute?" Our noses began to touch. Why was she this close to me?

"Um, yes?" Hearing my answer, she started to jump for joy.

"I'm cute! I'm cute! I'm cute!" While she continued to jump for joy, I could only stand there in disbelief. But as minutes went by, I spoke again.

"Um, I think there's one other thing." As soon as I spoke, she stopped and looked at me.

"There is? Tell me!" She was in my face again.

"Your...your personality." I said to her.

"My personality? What about it?" As if she never heard of it, her head cocked to the side.

"While you may seem like an adult, you act like a child. I think...that's a bit cute." Why did I say that? Why am I even talking to her?

"Child!? I-I assure you, I am no child! I am a full grown adult! You see how I look right? I look like adult right!?"

"Y-Yes...you are an adult." Why was I acting so nervous? I've never felt this way around anyone else.

"Good then. Now let's get you back-" Before she could finish, she looked towards the sky. The sky...are those the AST? Wait, were those missiles heading right towards us as well?

"Fufu. Looks like they finally decided to show up." Coming to my side, she brought out a broom that came from out of nowhere.

"Don't worry. I'll be sure to protect you. Let's get to work {Haniel!}" As her energy started to surround her, the missiles that was heading towards us had turn into...carrots?

Huh?

As they hit the ground away from us, they exploded with a *boom!* This was really something out of the ordinary for me.

"Here you go!" With a playful voice, her boom erupted with rainbow energy that had been sent towards the members of the AST.

"Huh? What's going on here?" As one AST member tried to avoid the rainbow, her entire suit had been replaced with a bunny suit. A bunny suit.

Watching the members fall out of the air in their...bunny suits. Natsumi spoke to me again. "Come now Kioshi, let's get you home. You'll give your big sis some more compliments won't you?"

"B-Big sis?" I was confused right now. I don't think I have a sister. Not to my knowledge I don't. But out from nowhere, a carrot missile had landed way too close to us, causing wind and smoke to push past us.

"Achoo!" As I closed my eyes, I hear Natsumi sneeze from the smoke. As the smoke cleared out, I finally opened my eyes.

"Um...Natsumi, are you alright?" As I walked to her to put my hand on her shoulder, she slapped it away in sheer anger. Like a façade, her smile had been quickly been replaced with a snarl.

"You saw it didn't you?" Natsumi said with venom in her voice. My heart had starting to quiver has I saw her face like that.

"Wh-What do you mean?" I quickly asked her. I didn't think of anything. When she slapped my hand away, it didn't hurt. Oddly, my head and heart did. Is there something wrong with me?

"Don't play stupid! I shouldn't have never trusted a human! Kioshi, I will make your life a living hell from now on!" Sitting on top of her broom, she flew away into the sky.

Never in my life have I felt regret. But when I noticed that I was finally close to earning a friend, my heart started to hurt more.

"Maybe there is something wrong with me." Without anything else to do, I started to walk in any direction to find my own way home.

* * *

Yesterday had been a bad day. I had finally started to make a friend, only for it to go south. After she left with those threatening words, I wandered for hours looking for a path to go back to my house. Luckily, I was able to find a path that I remember, and head back home. But not only for it to be in the morning, where school was about to start again.

Without any rest, without a shower, I went back to school. It was time for me to become unnoticeable again.

That's when I knew that this new day, would be the worst day of my life. As I entered the school, I felt eyes following me wherever I go. It was unsettling to me. Those stares...they were piercing the back of my head like I had done something wrong.

As I entered my class, everyone's head had turned away from their conversations and looked towards the door.

At me...

Their stares had quickly turned into faces of disgust. Why were they looking at me like that? Was it because of yesterday? Looking for Shido, I saw him quickly look away from me and closed his mouth the moment I laid my eyes on him.

But that's when I heard them...

"It's him again..."

"The molester is back!"

"Go to hell with those hands Kioshi!"

Why were they saying those things to me? What did I do to them that made them hate me so much? My head started to hurt. Something was scratching my brain from the inside. I felt wrong.

"Um, Kioshi. Could I possibly speak to you?" As my continued to hurt, I heard someone's voice in front of me. It was Shido.

"H-Huh?" This was all I could say. I couldn't think straight at all.

"There he is!" Hearing another familiar voice, Tohka had been rushing at me with inhuman speed.

"Who do you think you are touching me like that!?" Tohka's usual smiling face had been replaced with hatred as she speaks to me.

"T-Tohka, hold on! Let me speak to him first!" Shido had grabbed Tohka's arm that was close to hitting me in the face.

"Shido! He kept fondling my breasts earlier with a creepy smile on his face! He's not getting with this!"

"Kioshi run! I'll handle her for now!" Shido yelled to me.

"Wha-" I couldn't say anything.

I'm confused.

I'm confused.

I'm confused. My head hurts.

"Just go! Now!" Hearing him again, I started to run. I ran from everyone else that was in the room.

Why was this happening to me?


	2. Why is This Happening To Me?

Hiding in one of the classrooms, I heard the huge crowd run past me. I still couldn't comprehend why this was happening to me. They said I've done those things to them, but I only just got to school. How could that even be possible? Opening the classroom door, I looked at both ends of the hallway for any signs of them.

I guess I'm safe for now.

I need to find out what why this was happening and fast. But who would help me out right now? No one could possibly believe me, so what's the point?

"So this was where you was hiding." That monotone voice again. Don't tell me that I've done something to Origami as well.

"Even before all of this happened, I always knew you were a coward. And now you dare flip my skirt and run away? I should end you here and now." Origami's threatening voice put me on edge.

"I-I didn't do it! I just-" Before I could possibly save myself my these false accusations, Origami had threw her fist at the wall that was almost close to my face.

"Lies. Either you take the punishment, or run away and take the punishment. Either way, I will be the one to end you." She was dead serious. Either thing I did, I was going die. I haven't done anything to her so why is she this angry with me?

So I ran.

She started chasing me like she said, but I soon lost her. This was seriously making no sense to me. Is there anyone out here that I haven't messed with?

"There he is!"

Before thinking, I need to do some more running.

I soon found myself on the roof. Why? Why was this happening to me? I haven't done anything wrong. I just wanted to go to school like any normal person. But am I normal? That's right...

I'm an anomaly.

I need to go home. This was probably some prank or dream that I must be experiencing. With just a good rest, I should probably be fine. I never got any rest from last night so...

Wait.

Didn't Natsumi say anything about ruining my life? Was this because of her? I should probably go find her. I don't want her to continue making false rumors about me if it's her.

"Fufufu." Wait, I remember that laugh. Was that...

"Hello again Kioshi." Turning my head around, I saw a familiar face. No, it wasn't only just familiar...

It was my face.

"How nice of you to swing by Kioshi." With a smirk that I never knew that could be shown on my face, he walked up to me.

"Are you having trouble Kioshi? It seems like you've seen a ghost." This 'fake' me continued to mock me. Was he the reason why I was experiencing this?

"Who are you?" With that asked, the 'fake' me started to chuckle. Those chuckles soon turned into laughter.

"Who am I you ask? Of course, I'm Kioshi. Even you should know this." I couldn't understand what he was saying. I'm the only Kioshi here. I'm the real Kioshi.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about. I'm Kioshi." He laughed again. Why was this so funny to him? Is ruining my life funny to him?

"It's sad to hear that you don't remember me Kioshi. I did say that I was going to make you pay remember?" Make me pay? There was only person who has only said that to me. And that person was...

"Natsumi?" My voice failed to hide my shock. She had turned into an exact replica of me. Was this what she meant by ruining my life?

"How cute, you remember me now!" Her voice was being heard from out of my mouth strangely enough.

"Kioshi, you do know what this means right?" She walked up closer to me. 'My' own arm touched my shoulder.

"What are you talking about?"

"There are two Kioshi. There's no way that two Kioshi could exist in the same world. That's why..." She trailed off seemingly waiting for me to finish her sentence for her. But I never finished it. I wanted to know what she was planning.

"I'll be the only Kioshi." For the first time in my life, my eyes grew in shock.

"Y-You can't do this! What have I ever done to you!" I started to scream. Maybe the entire school could hear me. But I didn't care. I wasn't feeling like me anymore.

"You saw my secret, so of course I would act like this in return. You will pay in humiliating me. I should have never gotten close to a human. They all act the same anyway. If you don't like anyone, then they get rid of it."

"This isn't right! I haven't seen anything Natsumi!"

"Lies! I will never forgive you! I will never stop until your life is ruined!" Summoning her broom again, she sat on top of it and flew above me.

"Hello everybody! I'm up at the roof so come have some with me! I'm sure I'll give everyone a nice time~" Mimicking my voice, she screamed the loudest she could so she could tell everyone where I was. And with that, she flew away.

I wanted to run away again. But all I could remember after that moment, was the pain in my head that soon came after her speech.

Waking up, everything was hurting. I don't remember what happened, but from what I could tell, I was beaten to the floor. They left me on the school roof with nothing but painful feelings. It was night and the only thing I did was sit in my own blood.

Why was this happening to me?

I knew why. It's because I ruined someone else's life. I'm the worst aren't I?

I'm an anomaly. There shouldn't be mercy for me.

I just wish that I...

"Fufufufu." That same laughter continued to echo in my head. Or was I really imagining it?

Days and weeks had gone by until it was a month later from my first beating. I had continued to got to school even after everything that has happened to me. I had to go to school. I had to finish my work that I would miss if I didn't go to school.

The students still hate me.

The students still hurt me.

Everyday.

But the teachers never hated me. While they didn't know that much about me, I think they still trust me. They wouldn't give me bad grades as I do deserve them for all of the hard that I do. They might believe that I wasn't the one that did those things. But they still show that same disgust look at me. Was it true?

Today, I'm in the Nurse's Office. I was treating my injuries that I had to endure for a month. I really wished I could go home, but I can't call that a home anymore.

I lost my home not too recently.

I even lost the feeling to even care.

My home had turned into a huge pumpkin and I could already tell you had done it. Natsumi really hates me. Everywhere I go, I could hear her laughter. It started to haunt my dreams now.

I wished that I...

"Kioshi, how nice to see you again." Natsumi...she was here again. She came to mock me again. She came to laugh at me. She came to ruin me. But did I care?

I-

"You're so pathetic right now. I feel like I've done a pretty good job so far. But now I wonder, how about the entire world know about 'infamous' ways? I wonder what'll happen? Would they throw you in prison? Would they gun you down? Oh so many possibilities that I can't wait to see!" She was exhilarated to watch me suffer.

I'm an anomaly.

I'm hurting.

They hurt me.

Leave me alone.

"P-Please...stop." Natsumi, who was already laughing at stopped to look at me again.

"What? What did you say to me? Natsumi had quickly grabbed the collar of my shirt and lifted me in the air.

"S-Stop...please."

"Stop? After all of this? After you've seen my secret? You're really funny Kioshi. I think that I should continue to-" That was when she stopped talking. She felt something land on her cheek while she was holding me up in the air with her hand. I showed no resistance. I soon left all matters onto her now. She was going to kill me wasn't she?

I hope so...

"Tears?" Tears? What was she even talking about? Now that I think about it, I had been crying for some time now. But for what reason? I shouldn't be crying right now. I never cry.

"Fufufu. How lovely. It seems that I broke you. Such beautiful dead eyes you have. I can't wait to see what will happen if I continued to break you. Besides, ruining you has made me feel quite happy."

Before I could even say anything, the door to the office had been slammed open. And behind it, revealed Shido, who hasn't been in school lately, Tohka, and Origami. Why were they here?

"Shido Itsuka..." She must know Shido if she was saying his full name with venom in her voice. Why did they know each other?

"That's enough Natsumi, leave him alone!" Shido yelled with authority. Dropping me on the floor, she turned her entire body towards the newcomers.

"And why should I? He was the first person to see my secret, so why should I? By the way, have you found out who I was impersonating yet?"

"Stop with all of this madness Natsumi. Haven't you ruined his life enough?" Why was Origami covering for me? Wasn't one of the students who continued to hurt me? So why cover me?

"I wouldn't be saying that if I were you Origami. Weren't you one of the students that showed no mercy to him for flipping your skirt constantly?" Origami didn't say anything after that.

"Natsumi, let's just talk things out alright? We don't have to continue doing this." Shido was trying his best with being reasonable with her, but if she wouldn't talk to me, then she wouldn't talk to him.

"Very funny Shido Itsuka. Not only have you seen my secret as well, but you dare try to negotiate with me with such petty reasons!?"

"Okay you can be upset with me, but leave Kioshi out this!" Tohka yelled.

"Leave him out of this? Stay out of my business. What he does is my business, as he belongs to me now! He's mine to torture, so stay out of this!"

"Is that why you haven't erased him yet? To torture him!?" Shido was visibly angry. But I didn't care. I was more interested with the floor rather than anything else.

"Why of course. I could torture him all I want as long as I'm having fun~! He's my little plaything now~!" Natsumi had soon sat on top of her broom and started to float. But not before raising my chin to face her.

"Yes, you're just a little play thing now. I can't wait to see more reactions from that cute face from yours from now on~!" With that said, she flew out of the window.

"Kioshi, are you alright!?" After Natsumi left, Shido rushed to my side to check my current condition. For him, I would be terrible. For me...I was fine.

"I...didn't...do...it." I don't know why, but that was all I could say.

"I know Kioshi, I know." Having Shido touch my shoulder, I instantly reacted by smacking it away.

"I-It wasn't me!" Why was I saying this again? Why did I react like that?

They were going to hurt me again right?

I wish that I could go home.

I wanna sleep right now.

"I...didn't...do it." Before either of them could say anything, I felt hazy. It wasn't much before I found myself in a crowd of darkness.

Why must this happen to me?


	3. Please, Don't (Die) Leave Me

As my conscious came back to me, I felt the relaxation that I've been waiting for. The covers that covered my entire body felt soft along with the mattress that I laid on. I was tired. Too tired.

"**Are you awake now?" **Just by the voice, I slowly opened my eyes and let out a yawn. After yawning, I started to rub my eyes as I felt that something was in them.

"You came...again." I wasn't entirely awake to fully understand that the person had visited here again.

**"Sorry, did I scare you again?"**

"No...I wasn't really expecting you to be visiting again like this."

**"You still aren't used to this are you?" **

"Would it matter to you?" I would need to think of a name for this person. Only thinking that this person is only 'voice' was starting to become unsettling.

**"You know, I've been really eager to see you again." **There was no body that could be seen. All this person was...was just _'energy.' _ I couldn't tell if there was a smile or not, but all I know...is that this person **'knows me.' ** I don't know why, but this person is _strange._

"Why would you want to see me out of anyone?"

**"No reason. I just felt that **_**'time wasn't going to be in my favor this time.'**_ What does that mean to that person?

"What do you mean by that?"

**"Don't you think that fate and destiny was all based on time? Why would the existence of one's being be decided the moment they are born?" **Why was this person asking me like I know the answers?

"Why ask me these questions that you know the answers to?" Were they playing with me? There's no reason to ask a question when they would already know the answer to it.

**"Because...why wouldn't I ask? It's so entertaining listening to answers from someone like you." **

"You haven't answered none of my questions and yet you want me to answers yours? I don't think that's fair Mumei."

**"Mumei? Are you referring to me?" **

"Yes. That is the name that I have thought of since you haven't gave me yours."

**"Mumei as in no name right? Cute. I already have a name but I think I should stick with Mumei since it's you."**

"I see." I had laid back down on my bed as there wasn't anything else to do. It felt soft. So soft that I could go back to sleep in a second.

But this wasn't my bed.

This wasn't my room.

This wasn't my world.

"You kidnapped me again didn't you?" Asking a question when you know the answer to it. I'm a hypocrite.

**"Oh? You could tell? Tell me, what did I do wrong this time? And plus, isn't it wrong to ask a question when you already know the answer to it?" **I had a feeling that this person was going to throw that back at me.

"The bed. My bed wasn't always this plus, my bed had a more '_different'_ smell compared to this bed. Last time, you made my dresser be filled with stripped colored underwear where they were never stripped at all." A slight giggle had came from the person's voice.

**"You got me. I knew I should've placed my scent on the bed. Oh well, it makes it more entertaining to me." **

"Please don't blurt out your actions in front of your victim. It makes it even more creepy when I don't even know if it's a man or woman that had been laying on my actual bed."

**"I can be any gender you want. Female, or male. Well, if you swing that way than sure, I'll be a male for you." **Before I could say anything, the _'energy' _was no more. Instead, there was only a woman that stood in place of it.

"..."

**"Oh come on! Not even an cliche nose bleed of the sort? Don't boys do that when they see a beauty!? No, you must swing the other way don't you!?" **

"For you concern, no, I don't swing that way for your terms. And while you say boys nosebleed at the sight of women, then they are probably perverts. And for another thing, it's hard to react to someone's face when you can't even see their face."

**"I didn't know you cared about facial features. From what I understood about humanity, it's always about the breasts when it comes to women." **I didn't like where this was going. I wanted to leave this conversation as fast as possible. Why would I know about something like that?

"So could you let me leave now? I don't feel right sitting in a replication of my room."

**"Changing the subject are we? Fine then, I guess I'll enlighten you. A replicated room you say? I guess you can say that. But that's not really what this is. It's _my_****world. The world that no one could see but chosen." **A 'world that no one could see but chosen? That doesn't make any sense. I haven't been chosen for anything.

**"While this is my world, or should I call it, The Universe's Opposite yet there is still one thing that I cannot control here." **

"For a world that you control, there are things that you can't even do?" Before Mumei said anything else, she sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand.

I should rather say tried to take my hand as her hand went through mine.

Saying that I couldn't see her face was a bit of a lie. I couldn't entirely see her eyes. The only thing I could see is her long silver hair and her mouth. While her silver hair was amazing, her mouth only showed a small frown.

**"I wish to touch you...and yet I can't even do that. It's not fair." **She tried to touch me with her hands for many long seconds. After seeing the results of her efforts, she gave up with a disappointed sigh.

**"Fwah, seems like no matter what I do, I can't touch you." **

"..." I didn't find this entertaining at all. I just want to go home and sleep. But before I even had the thought of asking to go back home...

**"Do you know what Spirits are?" **

"Spirits? What do you mean by that?" I never heard of the term before.

**"You live in this world, yet you don't even know about them. I can't say that I'm disappointed. But you're still adorable when you look stupid so I guess I should tell you some things about your own world. But promise me one thing." **

"...What is it?" Ignoring the stupid compliment, I sat up waiting for the news to come that I haven't heard of before. This was going to change my natural life by a long shot.

**"Live. Even if the world goes against you, you must live. Your life is very valuable. To spirits, to humans, to animals, everything in the world. If you die...no, you WILL live no matter the cost." **Her voice...it was serious. I don't know why my life is valuable, but I don't want to die. I want to live. There's no reason for me to die this early.

Especially when I don't know why I exist.

"Okay..."

To live unnoticed is the safest chance I have to not get killed.

* * *

Opening my eyes, I found myself in my room. All of the stress that I had endured had quickly washed away. I wanted to continue to snuggle in my bed as I never wanted to get out of it. After having my house turn back to normal, I could finally get the rest that I needed.

Wait. My house was back to normal.

Jolting up from my bed, I looked around my room to find anything out of the ordinary. And the only thing I could find that wasn't normal, was the jade haired woman that laid her arms on my bed as her head was resting on top of them.

"Natsumi?" Yes, Natsumi was currently sleeping on the side of my bed. What kind of dream was happening right now?

"Nngh." As she heard my voice, Natsumi started to come to reality. But there was something different about Natsumi.

Was she always that short before?

"Good morning world." As Natsumi said this, she took a look around her surroundings. As she looked at me, I'm guessing that she wasn't fully awake yet as she ignored the fact that I was awake. But upon staring at me again, she found out that I was staring right back at her.

"So you've seen me like this again. How many times has it been? To be honest. I don't really care anymore." What an odd reaction. I would've been expecting a spell that would turn me into something grotesque. But still, why wasn't she doing anything to me now?

"Hey, do you mind if I use your shower?

"Um, go right ahead." As she left to go to my shower, she turned back into the form that makes her look like a 20 year old.

After a few minutes had passed, Natsumi had came out of the shower with her normal attire. Seriously, what was going on here?

"Thanks. So now I'm probably guessing that you want to know why I'm here right now aren't you?" Natsumi casually sat in my chair as if it was her own house.

"You're asking something that you already know the answer to." Natsumi only giggled a bit before grabbing my shirt abruptly, pushing me towards her face.

"Listen, I didn't come here to play any jokes. I could've been playing around some more to do some more criminal deeds while I'm you, but it looks like you're going to be stuck with me for a while now."

"What exactly do you mean by stuck with me?"

"It's exactly as I said before. You're mine to play with. I can't lose my only plaything to anybody. Not even to that pathetic organizations that Shido Itsuka aligns himself with. You're not being taken away on my watch. " What on Earth was she talking about? Organizations?

"Wait a minute, I don't even know what you're talking about. I need to at least know why you're doing this. You ruined my life and you want me to work with you?"

"I'm not surprised that you don't know what I'm talking about. You've been asleep for a week."

"A week? I've been asleep for that long?" Asleep for a week? I don't know why but I can't say that not I'm surprised.

"Yes, a week. I'm surprised that you can keep that same stoic face even when hearing that. But while you were asleep, you've been taken in by Shido to his organization where they could keep you there until you woke up. None of them knew why you were asleep for that long, but the only thing that could be said is that you experienced a short coma."

"Then why am I not with Shido? Instead, why am I with the person that had promised me that she was going to ruin my life?"

"Because I saved you moron! I'm not telling you why I was there, but you should only know that I saved you." I didn't get it. Saved me from what? Shido? I don't know that much about him, but I'm sure he wouldn't do anything to me.

"And that leaves me to this point: pack your things, we're leaving."

Excuse me?

"Wait, what are you talking about now?" We're leaving? Leaving to where? Why am I even leaving?

"Even if I did save you from Shido and his friends, we are still under his radar. The safest thing we could do is leave this country as it is now. We'll be safe when we do that."

"No." Was all I said. Judging by her shocked face, that wasn't the answer that she wanted to hear.

"What did you say?"

"I said 'no.'

"Are you stupid!? Think about what could happen if Shido and the others capture you!? Do you want to be tested on like a pig!?" Why was she even worrying about my life anyway? She loathed my entire existence before, and now she wants me to run away with her?

"I'm sure you're just misunderstanding something about Shido. From what I've seen, he's a nice person. I'll go talk to him." As I got off my bed to open my door to leave, Natsumi had grabbed my arm.

"Stop." What was wrong with Shido that she doesn't like about him? He wasn't some evil guy that planned on destroying the entire world.

"Explain. What's with the sudden change? Why are you trying to protect me?" She didn't say anything after that. She only kept her grip on my hand to tell me that she wasn't going to let me go.

"..."

"You know something don't you? If you do then please, tell me. I'll think if I should stay with you based on your answer."

"B-Because...I-"

"Tell me already, do you know something or not?" Why was she even acting like this? What happened during the time that I was asleep?

"I-I can't lose you." What? Why were her eyes becoming teary? Did I do something that made her upset?

"Lose me? What does that mean?" After saying that, Natsumi didn't say anything after that before jumping out of my window with her broom only to disappear into the sky.

"She didn't want to lose me? What exactly did that mean to her?"

To lose somebody...

God only knows as to when she'll appear again.


	4. Anomaly

The new problem is: how can I reach Shido Itsuka? I can walk out of my house and go to school to find him, but Natsumi had made me a criminal for seeing her "secret" that I've have yet to see.

There was nothing that I could do that could prove myself to be innocent. No one would ever believe me since Natsumi had entirely mimicked my looks. The police will find me, and they would arrest me. Or even worse...they would kill me.

If there were any of these outcomes, then I need to think of something so that I could meet up with him then. Today's Friday...that's not good. I haven't even thought about this yesterday. I only have this one day to not get caught. But if I do...then it's over for me.

Why does my life have to become this complicated now...?

Looking inside my closet, I didn't have that much clothes that could disguise my appearance. I don't know how Natusmi's mimicry ability works, but I could guess that she be making herself look me in my school uniform. There was only were only two things that managed to catch my eyes.

I don't know if people will fall for this, but I have no choice. Wearing an over-sized hoodie that covers up most of my face was the smallest solution I could come up with. I'm just hoping that no one would be able to recognize me.

As I walk out of my house, I looked both ways to see if anyone was in the area and looks like no one was around. Leaving around 6 am was a normal routine now for going to school, but now I'm just nervous if anyone would be around. Now all I have to do is walk down the path to the school.

* * *

So far, not a single person had recognized my face. It's a relief that no one would really pay attention to some guy that has an over-sized hoodie on that covers their face. Now all I have to do is reach the school and find Shido. If he knows something about Natsumi, then I could know why she's doing this to me.

As walked by the many people that covered the pavement, I noticed unusual posters that were nailed to posts.

The posters had my face on it but it didn't have a name on it either. And it was a wanted poster for woman molesting...

"Natsumi...why are you doing this?" I was actually a criminal out in the city now. I didn't want this...I didn't want any of this. I just wanted to live unnoticed by people so I didn't draw attention to myself. If I was valuable to everyone, then what was the point of being a center of attention of the entire city?

No...I need to stop this. I need to find Shido. I need to find Natsumi. But what would that even do for me? If I do find the answers from Shido and If I did manage to stop Natsumi from impersonating me...

What would even happen to me? I would still be a criminal. There would be no way that I would be able to prove my innocence. Those wanted posters would still be all over the city and I would have no choice but to hide away from everyone. I started to feel sick. I started to feel nauseous.

I need to go. Please Shido, please save me...

* * *

I finally made it to school. Not a single person has noticed that it was me under the hoodie. But now that I'm here, I could finally find Shido. I don't think hiding behind a tree as I wait for a student to come by is the best of plans for me. But it was a plan at least. All I have to do is wait for Shido to come and I'll just pull him aside.

...

...

...

...

But he didn't come.

Not a single student had come past the gate yet.

What was going on? I'm pretty sure that today was a school day, so why hasn't a single person come past the gate yet? As I came out from my hiding spot, I went to see if anyone was coming by.

And not a single person was seen from the path.

This wasn't making any sense. Why was there no one around? Maybe they are already in school and they had already started class. If so, then talking to Shido would be more troubling than I thought.

Walking in the building was simple enough. Because they started class already, no one would be out in the hallway unless they were moving things from one place to another. But as I walked down the hallway, I don't know why but it's like the school seemed really quiet for some reason. It was until now that I noticed something was missing when coming inside the school...

I haven't heard the bell ring at all.

Usually, the bell would ring for when classes start, but I haven't heard it all. I'm going to have to check the classrooms aren't I? If I did, then I would be captured without a single hesitation from the women.

But I have no choice...

Something _was _wrong here. Something _felt _wrong here.

As I closed my eyes and slowly opened the door, I didn't hear a single person inside the classroom where Shido would've been at. After seeing this, I went to other classrooms to see if anyone or at least a single person was inside any of the rooms, and there was no one in any classroom.

No, I'm pretty sure it's class time, so why isn't anyone-

Huh?

Looking at a clock inside the last classroom that I had opened, it showed something that proved that I was right for there to be something being wrong in the school.

The clock's minute and hour hand had kept rotating around the hours. Like time was moving forward.

Running outside the classroom, I _felt _something come into contact with my brain. It was like someone had punched my brain from the inside. And yet, I _knew_ where it was coming from...because _someone_ was calling for me.

From the woman that was standing at the end of the hall in front of me. The only thing I could make out, was that she wore the same Raizen High school as any female student that was part of this school, and her strange white hair that had a bit of purple highlights at the top of it. As I continued to look at her, the weird feeling that I was experiencing right now started to increase more and more.

She motioned her finger towards her as if she wanted me to follow her. I shouldn't follow her as the reason for this strange phenomenon that was happening in the school was because of her. I shouldn't because something felt off about her.

But I walked towards her regardless of what I was thinking right now. She wasn't controlling me, but something about her was basically telling me "I'm an anomaly." I could feel the sweat fall down the side of my face as I was getting closer to her figure. To feel nervous is a feeling that I haven't felt before. Yet she made me feel this way.

We were standing in front of each other at this point. She didn't say anything and I didn't say anything. She continued to look at me with her bright purple eyes that was on her pale skin. It was if she was analyzing me. While her face was emotionless, I could tell what she was feeling right now.

She was curious about me.

After about a minute of her staring into my eyes, she extended out her hand.

"U-Um, do you n-need something from me?" She had called for me. And I don't understand how I know this. But the way she continued to stare at my eyes was a huge give away for me. She didn't say anything. The only thing she did was tilt her head to the side and continued to wait for me to take her hand.

But was that really okay?

Was it okay to take the hand that was the cause of this?

But I didn't have another chance to think about my decision as I wasn't on the ground anymore. No, she had swiped me from the ground and was now currently holding me bridal style.

"H-Huh!?" As I looked back to her, instead of her emotionless face, she was smiling at me. Why did she look so happy right now?

But before I could ask her anything, she had jumped outside of the window with me in her arms. Why did this feel like some sort of wedding? Where was she even taking me? I hope she isn't thinking of doing "that" to me in some kind of hotel.

I just noticed something...we're flying weren't we? And we're really high up in the sky. If anyone was around, then they would noticed a female carrying a women molester in her arms as they fly off into the air.

She looked happy, so I don't think I should ruin her fun for now. But that fun didn't last long as she noticed something coming straight towards us.

"..." Her smile and her fun had been interrupted. And I don't know if that's a good thing or not. As we landed on the nearest building next to us, I found out that the something was actually someone.

"Oh? So this was where you've been. And it seems that you've met my friend here haven't you?" That voice was familiar. And that was voice belonged to the first woman that I had met...

"Mumei?" When asking her name, the woman that was still holding me had started to hold me tighter. Seeing this, Mumei started to giggle.

"I see that you have an attachment Kioshi. And a real dangerous one in fact." An attachment? What did she mean by dangerous?

"I...I don't understand what you mean."

"So you can still talk huh? Even when she's thinking this much about you, you are still able to move freely. I guess she was able to control herself this time around." Each time she speaks, it only kept getting confusing.

"M-Mine." She spoke silently and softly. There goes that word again. "Mine." What exactly does that mean? She didn't seem nervous, but she it was like she was trying to restrain herself from doing something.

"Alright, alright I get it. I won't even dare to touch any of yourtoys. Considering from what happened last time, I don't think I want to fix your mistakes again. Fixing the city takes a lot of power you know!"

"..."

"Hm, figures as much. You wouldn't care what would happen to the world right? It's all just a bad playhouse for you to mess with right? Everyone that exists is all just a bunch of defective toys." Where was she getting this from? She wasn't even talking and Mumei could understand what she wanted to say. Was she telepathic?

"..."

"I know that's not what you said. But that's what I'm getting from your previous actions. You did a whole bunch of things to reach for this one's life right?"

"..."

"Kioshi." Hearing my name called, I looked back to Mumei.

"Do you remember what you promised me?"

"To survive and never die."

"That's right. Because if you did, then I don't think she'll be happy anymore and it'll leave me with even more problems to deal with. Do you understand me?" I silently nodded.

"Good. Come on then, we have to bring you back to your world." As the woman let me on the ground, I could feel the hesitation in her hands as she never let go of my arms.

"Come on now let him go. I promise that you'll meet him after I manage to keep your powers in check." At this, she lets go of my arm and says: "Until we meet again, Ki." Was "Ki" a nickname for me? I wouldn't say that I didn't like it but it does make me feel tired. Really tired.

Before I fell onto the floor, the woman had managed to stop my fall with her legs. She was giving me a lap pillow before I fall asleep. How nice of her. She gently stroked my hair back and forth as she looked at me with a smile.

"_Sleep as much as you want. But not for eternity. I'll be there to wake you again one day." _It was strange. She her mouth didn't move and yet I could hear her voice. I must be sleepy.

A nap wouldn't hurt me that much anyway.

* * *

"Kioshi?" But as I woke up, I found myself in front of someone's house. Was that some sort of dream? Mumei was there so it couldn't have been a dream. But that girl...was she really a girl? Or was she a Spirit?_ Or was she something more? _Either way, by the looks of it, I'm back at my neighborhood. At least Mumei did that much for me.

"Kioshi." I guess I'll hurry to the school and wait for Shido again. And I also have to do some make up work for the days I've been gone. I don't what'll do with myself if I didn't finish the work assigned to me.

"Kioshi!" Did someone call my name? I must've been in my thoughts for a long time to not notice them by now. Turning myself to them, I could look at the person with my best stoic expression.

Why was Shido Itsuka in my neighborhood?


	5. Warm Under The Covers

"Natsumi is a spirit that has the ability to mimic anyone that she sees including the abilities of the person that she mimics. To say one thing for short, yes, she could considered as her code name: {Witch.} She also-"

"Um, not to be rude or anything, but I kind of already know about her mimicry ability." Shido's little sister Kotori, had explained the entire situation to me. Well, the things she already told me was something that I had already learned from previous events. I didn't know how scary she could be until she slammed her hand on her resting chair.

"Just listen will you!?" She's really scary. I didn't think she'll be angry that fast. I think it'll be best to keep my mouth shut and just listen.

"Kotori, please don't be too hard on him. He's had a rough life so far." Shido had managed to calm Kotori down from her short temper.

"*Sigh* Kioshi, how much do you know about Spirits?"

"T-The only thing that I know about them, is that every time a Spacial Quake occurs, they appear from them. A-And they also have powers that are unique to their own-self." Hearing that, Kotori's left eye had twitched out of arrogance.

"Is that so? And where did you get this information from? Humans such as yourself shouldn't know anything about Spirits." Kotori was getting suspicious about me now. I should've just said nothing in the matter, but when pushed under pressure, I can't help but answer honestly.

"Um...while I'm not sure if their abilities are unique to themselves, it was only an educated guess. Natsumi...had told me that when she arrived on Earth, she said that she didn't see anyone else but the AST to greet her." While it's not right for me to lie, it would be a huge problem for them to know anything about Mumei. It would only have Kotori even more suspicious about me.

"Hm...and how do you know about their ability? While I do understand your "guess," I still lack the information about how you know about their own unique ability." This wasn't good. With the wrong words said, they would instantly take me out.

"With Natsumi-" Before I could make an excuse, Kotori had interrupted me.

"Kioshi, think real long and hard for this next excuse. Because the next words that come out of your mouth could might very be your last as you turn into a crisp. "An educated guess?" Do you really think I'm stupid enough to buy into that rubbish?" She was threatening me. She actually didn't buy into my lie at all. If I told her about Mumei, would she be angry at me? In fact, does anyone here know about Mumei? It's only Kotori, Shido, and me in this room. While the others were in Shido's house, we were in the Ratatoskr. I didn't even know this ship existed until now.

"I-"

"Ow!" Before I could say anything with my very few seconds, Kotori had been bopped in the head by a book by Shido.

"What was that for Shido!?"

"Because you're being rude to our guest. Kioshi had been troubled since the very day he met Natsumi, so wouldn't you think it would be best to let him off a bit easy?"

"Huh!? I'm trying to protect you and the other Spirits Shido!" Shido raised his eyebrow in question.

"Protect me from Kioshi? Kotori look, he's not that kind of person. While we didn't chat with one another, I could tell that he just wants a peaceful life."

"Shido, he has no background records! Not a single person knows where he comes from! He just popped up out of thin air! How do we know if he's some kind of spy!? He's an anomaly!" There goes that word again...Anomaly. What is it about me that makes me different than anyone else?

Why do I exist?

"Kotori that's enough! Kioshi can you please wait outside? I'll speak to you after I'm done talking to Kotori." I silently nodded as I heard the two continue to argue with one another. Were they always like this?

Or was it because of me?

I think I should just wait until Shido comes out...

* * *

After 10 minutes of arguing, Shido had finally come out of the room. He looked a bit stressed, but I guess that's normal for him. That's his little sister after all. There should be no doubt that they argue from time to time.

"Shido?" Hearing my voice had slightly spooked him. I haven't considered myself to be the scary type.

"Ah! I forgot you were here Kioshi! Sorry for making you wait for so long. Follow me, we'll be talking by ourselves for now.

"I-It's no problem. I'm kind of used to being ignored, so yo don't have to worry about that much." It was true. Not a single person besides the teachers had noticed that I had existed in school. But for the teachers, it should be no doubt that they were concerned as for where I came from.

"Don't say that. You're just not used to being noticed. So for now on, let's be friends. Alright?" As Shido said this, he extended out his hand for me to take. Friends...I haven't heard that word for some time. It's just that...I'm not used to being referred as a "friend."

"I-If I'm not a bother, then yes. Let's be friends...from now on." As I reached out for his hand, I felt a bit happy to shake hands with a...friend. But now that I think of it, should I consider Mumei as a friend?

"Um,Kioshi?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you patting my head?" Hearing this, I looked to see that I was in fact not shaking his hand. Instead, I was gently patting his head.

"I-I'm sorry. It...just felt normal for me to do that. I don't know what came over me." While Shido was a bit taller than me, I felt weird to just start patting his head. I don't really know what came over me.

"There's no need to apologize. I just didn't expect that at all. It felt...nice if I should say so myself. N-Not to say that I liked it, it's just that I haven't gotten my head patted for so long." Shido had started to laugh a bit from being nervous. Did he really enjoy head patting?

"A-Anyway, ahem, let's talk about what we know about Natsumi." Shido had quickly dropped his laughter and made a face of seriousness.

"Kioshi, have you ever thought about the reason as to why she wants to be called cute?"

"Um, not that much. But she did ask me something like that when I first met her. Is there something that I'm not noticing?"

"Well, I was thinking that you might know something about her since she is mostly around you."

"Around me? What do you mean by that?" If I could remember, I've encountered Natsumi for almost like three times.

"Well, I'm not trying to frighten you but I think you should become aware of this Kioshi." Aware of what exactly?

"Aware of what?"

"Aware of the fact that Natsumi was always detected to be near you."

" Detected near me? I'm sorry, I'm kind of not understanding what's going on here. Could you please clarify for me please?" Shido has all of the answers that I need, so I need to understand the entire story first.

"Well, here in Ratatoskr, we are an organization to save Spirits. As you already know, Spirits are the entire cause of Spacial Quakes, so we try our best to save them from being killed from the AST. We develop a more peaceful way to deal with Spirits other than killing them."

"What peaceful way did you have in mind?" When asking this, Shido's face had become slightly red from embarrassment.

"To..to date them." Date them? Does dating have to do with something about a Spirit's ability?

"Date...them? You only need to date them to...stop them from destroying cities?"

"I-It's not just that! I...need to kiss them too." While Shido did mumble the last of his sentence, I was still able to understand what he said. To date and kiss a Spirit...I haven't of something like that. If that was the case, then why hasn't Mumei told me about Shido?

"You...kiss them too? Does that really work?" I tilted my head to the side in confusion. It's just hard for me to understand what you had to do in order to stop a Spirit.

"I-It works. Tohka, Yoshino, Miku, Kotori, Miku, and the Yamai sisters are all Spirits." They were all Spirits? I haven't met the others, but it kind of surprised me with the fact that they are Spirits. But wait, if Kotori was a Spirit, and she was his sister, then...

"Shido... did you kiss your sister?" Shido had instantly, stopped everything and looked at me with a slightly more reddened face.

"I-It's not what you think! She's a Spirit and I really wanted to save my sister from her illness! Please, don't get any wrong ideas!" I only stared at him with my stoic face.

"It's fine. Now that I know about you save Spirits, can you explain about this entire Natsumi issue? I'm still kind of in the lost here."

"R-Right, sorry for the hold up. Yes, while I do save Spirits, it is only something that I could do. I...I'm not sure why, but I am able to seal a Spirit's ability by kissing them. As for how it happens, I do need to take them out on a date to keep their mental state situated. And for us to know this, we have a monitor that detects the Spirit's mental status. While it is like a mental status record, let's call it a love meter. The higher the meter goes, the more affectionate they become. But the more it falls...I guess you know what that means." It's hard for me to understand, but I am starting to get the basic gist of the entire Spirit dating thing.

"While I did try to go on a date with Natsumi, she seemed uninterested with the dating plan. Her meter wouldn't even fill to a neutral love status while I was with her. We kept trying to find a solution to her problem, but we kept hitting a brick wall. But that's when you showed up. For some reason, every time we found Natsumi after that date, she seemed to be located at any area close to you."

"This is still coming out a bit vague for me. Why would Natsumi even consider to be even close to me? Is it because she needs a place to hide?" Shido only crossed his arms.

"We don't know. But there's one thing that we do know. Her mental status is a bit above neutral whenever she is located near you. Even if we do know this, a new questions strikes our mind: is Natsumi starting to fall in love with you?" Falling in love with me? How could she be falling in love with me? That couldn't be right at all. Is that really true?

"What would happen if she did...fall in love with me? Would that still hinder you from saving her?" It's a good question. Shido's job is to have the Spirits fall in love with him so he could eventually kiss them and seal their powers. But what would happen if they fell in love with someone besides Shido?

"Hm, I don't really know. We really haven't experienced this kind of thing before so we're out of ideas for the matter. For now, could you do us a favor? We need you speak some more to Natsumi to see if this really is true. I'm not asking you to go onto a date, but I kind of need you to talk to her so we could have a solution for her. Could you do this?" While this was a request from the second friend that I've ever gotten, I think I should do this. If it's for finding a reason as to why she's doing this, then I have no choice.

"I'll do it. Please let me know whenever she is located so I could speak to her. Shido, you might not know this, but you're the only person that can save me right now. Please, give me your word that you will find a way to save me from these crimes."

"...We will try our best. If you could find a way as to what's bothering her, then we will do everything in our power to get rid of these crimes on your head." At his words, I felt more relieved. Relieved that this will all come to an end sooner or later. It all took time after all.

"And one other thing Kioshi." As he grabbed my attention again, I was prepared to listen to him.

"Is there anything else I need to do?"

"Well, it's not a request but I think you should meet my friends."

Huh?

"Meet...your friends?" Shido scratched the back of his head as he laughed a bit.

"Yes...it's just thought that it wouldn't be healthy to always be by yourself. It would never hurt to have a friend there for you every once in a while."

"But...would they accept me for who I am? I'm...just an anomaly. Something that shouldn't exist in this plane of existence. I'm-" Before continuing, Shido stopped me.

"Kioshi?"

"Yes?"

"Let's go meet with Tohka and the others okay?"

"A-Alright." With that, we started walking in the hallway of the ship that I never knew existed. My life has become so confusing, that even I don't know what to do with it. But even so, to earn a friend and they accept you for who you are just feels...

Warm.

I never knew you could feel this warm even when you're not under your covers in your bed.

I feel sleepy...


	6. Beginning of Friendship?

_Falling...I felt all the strength in my body fade as I continued to fall. I can't hear anything. It's like everything in the world was muted. Finally hitting the ground, I could only think of one thing:_

_When did things go wrong? _

_I tried my best...and yet, I still failed to succeed._

_Fate mocked me..._

_Destiny mocked me..._

_I wanted to laugh..._

_I wanted to smile..._

_I wanted to be proud of what I accomplished in my life..._

_But why did tears run by?_

_The sky looked strange. _

_And the city looks destroyed._

_The original blue sky had turned violet. Did she really have to destroy the world? It was for me wasn't it? I couldn't stop her even if I did have any power. _

_I tried Shido..._

_I tried..._

_And I tried..._

_And I tried..._

_But could I ever succeed? _

_Could I ever live to see you smile once again? _

_I wanted to hold your hand again...just so you could smile like you always did. Let's go home...We could sleep the entire day off ,if that's what you want. _

_Just please...stop this madness. _

_*Ding* _

* * *

After the discussion that we had, Shido and I went back to his home. As the Spir-I mean Shido's friends went out shopping, Shido had showed me around his house. We talked and we...laughed. I didn't think I could ever laugh. That's only because Shido had lightened up my mood a bit when he started to talk about previous events, such as meeting the Spir-I mean his friends.

After about a few hours of story time, Shido's friends had returned from their adventure. However, there was a woman with long pale blue hair that came from behind them when they returned. At first I thought that she was just watching over the Spir-Shido's friends while they were shopping, but I'm starting to become wary with her.

She _felt_...strange.

It's like she was already watching me even before she stepped into the house. And she continued to observe me like I was some kind of test subject. But most of all...

_There's something surrounding her body..._

_Something that wasn't meant to be there..._

_White. _

"Kioshi, how's the food?" Shido's question had brought me out of my trance. When did he make this food? I must've been so focused on her that I didn't even notice that everyone was sitting around the table with food on each one of their plates.

"It's really good! Isn't that right Kioshi!" Tohka, who I didn't know that liked to eat food, had already started to devour everything on her plate. Steak and But not without a few particles of rice left on her face.

"Tohka, watch how you eat. You've got rice all over your face." Shido cleaned Tohka's face with a napkin. Tohka was currently sitting next to Shido on his left, and Miku on his right. With Shido showing me pictures that were taken with all of his friends, I was able to recognize all of them.

"R-Right..." I was still nervous. I didn't know that much about these people so of course I would feel nervous. Shido had said that he had to discuss about 'previous events' that I've done to her while we were in school. Luckily, she didn't keep the grudge against me. As I took a bite of the steak that was presented on my plate, my eyes widened in satisfaction.

"I-It's good." Shido only chuckled as he watched my reaction.

"Glad to hear." I continued to take bites into the steak and I found myself devouring it in seconds.

"Say mister, you eat as fast as Tohka!" Yoshinon, who was on Yoshino's hand, had given me a compliment? When Shido explained to me that Yoshinon was a talking puppet, I didn't believe it at first, but hearing the puppet's voice now, I believe him.

"U-Um, thanks..."

"And you're as shy as Yoshino here!" Yoshino, who had stopped eating her food, had motioned to quiet Yoshinon by placing her index finger on her mouth.

"Y-Yoshinon, you don't have to t-tell him that!" I could say that she was even shyer than me.

"See? Yoshino, you've managed to find someone just like you!"

"Please Yoshinon, please stop making a commotion!" As the two continued to speak to one another, I felt somebody watching me again.

"..." It was that woman again. Why is continuing to look at me like that? It's like a predator was looking down its prey.

"Reine, are you alright? You haven't taken a bite of your food yet." The woman named Reine hasn't said anything. She only continued to stare at me. But of course I looked at another direction that wasn't her. I wouldn't dare to stare at someone in the eye like her.

She just _feels_ creepy...

"I'm sorry Shin, your food is wonderful, but I'm afraid to say that I don't have the appetite right now. I'll see you in the morning." With that said, the woman had left the room, leaving everyone else in the room quiet.

"Hm...she hasn't been eating in a while has she Yuzuru?" Kaguya was the first to speak from out of the entire bunch.

"Reply: Yuzuru also noticed..." Kaguya seemed to be the outspoken one based on Shido's description about her. She seems to be an outgoing person. However, Yuzuru is like a robot when it comes to responses. And why does she speak in third person?

"Sigh...I guess I'll go talk to her then. I can't have one of my workers distracted on something this much." After Kotori had got done eating her food, Kotori left the room to follow that woman.

Reine was her name wasn't it?

"Um...please don't worry about her Kioshi. While she hasn't slept much, she's really a caring person. She didn't leave because of you." It's like Shido already knew what I was going to think.

"O-Okay then."

Minutes had passed as we continued to eat. I continued to look at them...they were all happy. They had grown accustomed to one another and they became friends. I wonder...did they ever feel like the world was looking down on them? That the world would judge them because they were from another world?

"So, Kioshi, are you ready for tonight?"

"What's going on tonight Shido? Are you two going out for something?"

"Well, Kioshi here might be the key that we were looking for to save Natsumi."

"R-Really? Does that mean that Natsumi would become friends with us?" Shido patted Yoshino's head. She seemed sad as if she didn't want to resort to violence.

"Don't worry Yoshino, we'll all be friends in no time." After patting her head, Shido looked at me with a determined look.

"Are you sure you're up to this? You're going to be out there alone with a Spirit. Who knows what could happen to you. Remember, there are also people out there that are hunting for her. " I knew Shido didn't want me to get hurt out there. This was his job, not mine. For him to live with the guilt of my death will problematic for everyone. He would be out there in my place if the worst comes to happen. But then again...

I made this decision...

"Shido...I won't fail you."

And I won't stop until everything is over.

* * *

As I made my way to Natsumi's location, which was the abandoned amusement park, I couldn't stop thinking to myself that this was a crazy idea. What if Natsumi didn't want to speak to me again? Ever since our last encounter, she hasn't visit me that much. Why was she acting like this to begin with? All of the answers to my questions would become clear in this last interaction. I have to make sure to gain Natsumi's trust, so we could put an end to all of this.

"How nice to see you again...Kioshi." And there she was. Sitting at the same spot from where we first met.

How convenient that this was going to be the place where it all ends...

From the place that it had all started...

"Natsumi..." She was looking stern as she always did. I was probably right, she didn't want to see me again.

**"Kioshi! Can you hear me!?" **Wasn't that Kotori's voice? How could I forget? Shido had given this blue tooth device to me to put in my ear as he would be giving me assistance in this meeting.

"Mhmh." I had made a silent hum to give a response to Kotori's voice.

**"Good. Now then, because you're going to partake in this operation, you're going to have to listen to what I say, and when I say it. Got it!?" **She was really angry at me wasn't she? I could only pray that after this, she would hopefully be nicer to me.

"I understand."

"Hm? What's wrong Kioshi? Did you become so delusional, that you are beginning to talk to yourself?" Natsumi was already beginning to mock me. Kotori has to hurry up with her orders, or she might decide to hurt me.

**"Kioshi, we'll be giving you three different questions to ask her. These questions will help you-huh?" **Before Kotori could continue her explanation, something had caught her attention.

"Kotori? What's-"

**"Just make sure you don't make her angry! We're having some technical difficulties so do as I said!" **With that, the connection had been cut off. I don't know what happened, but I guess I have no other choice but to just act normal.

"Natsumi...I want to talk." I have to make sure to choose my words wisely. Anything different would only result in my death. But would Natsumi kill me though?

"Oh? And what do you want to talk about my dear Kioshi?" She's not against it so I guess this is alright.

"I want...I want to talk about you." With that response, she began to grow curious.

"About me huh? And what exactly do you have in mind?"

"About...secrets." Natsumi didn't say anything after that. Did I make the wrong choice of words?

"Secrets...? Isn't that something that friends do when their close to one another?"

"Yes that's true, but I already consider you as a friend." Her eyes widened in response. I'm really hoping that this works out.

"Us...as friends? Did you hit your head or something? After all that I did to you, you consider us as friends?" She was right. Why would I consider her as a friend? She made me a criminal, so why should I even become her friend?

"Because...because." I lost my focus because of that question. I couldn't find a reason as to why I consider her as a friend. This plan was going to...

_Fail._

"Because what? I don't know what you're planning, but it won't work. You're not going to win me over just because you say that we're _friends_."

"..."

"Of course. You're just like Shido Itsuka. Trying to help me for your own gain. Let me ask you something Kioshi. Do you think that after you stop me, that the bounties that are on your head would disappear?"

"..." I couldn't admit it. I didn't want to admit it. I wanted to help Shido, so he could help me deal with my problems. So that means that I'm selfish, huh?

"Caught red handed. Nothing will change, Kioshi. You will continue to hide in your house, hoping that this will all someday end. You'll remain a criminal for all of your life. Your pathetic. You're just an bug that's only going to continue to be stepped on and scraped off the floor. You'll be looked down on just like how I was."

"..."

"And another thing-" Before she could say something, I decided to cut her off.

"Natsumi...you're lonely...aren't you?" With that said, she flinched.

"What did you say!?" I didn't care that she was angry. She needs to listen to the truth. The truth that she decided to hide away.

The truth as to why she was doing this.

"Aren't you lonely on these dark nights? Aren't you lonely that don't have anyone else to talk to about your problems?" Shido had told me that he had to find out what was wrong with each one of the Spirits that he had encountered. He had to talk to them to help them. To talk to them, so he could be able to save them. All the Spirits ever needed, was for someone talk to. And Natsumi was no different compared to the rest of them.

"I-I am not lonely! I'm fine being by myself for my life! I refuse to talk to humans!" If I could hear Kotori, she would be giving me an lecture right now.

How strange...

I've only met Shido's sister in a single day and I already know how she would react to my stupid actions.

"...Tell me, Natsumi. If you don't want to talk to a human, then why bother with me? Why speak to a me? A human?"

"Because...because you're not human! You're just an anomaly that had just randomly appeared! Because of you, I can't even feel normal again! Because of you these feelings-"

"I've finally known the truth as to why you're doing this Natsumi..." She chose to not speak after I said this. I feel like I'm doing the opposite as to what I'm supposed to do here. Based on what Shido said before, I could make a Spirit become mentally unstable if pushed too far.

"..."

"It's because all that you wanted...was for someone to look at you, right?"

"!" Her eyes were widened in shock. I hit the ballpark.

"It all makes sense. Because no one knew about me, you chose to look like me to make everyone judge me. You made me look like a criminal because you wanted to have a lonely person like myself to be seen the wrong way, just so you could finally have someone to relate to. And as you continued to ruin my life, you started to enjoy it, because people started to notice you."

"..." She began to grip her broom in anger.

"That's why you asked me to run away with you. You wanted to make me see how you see the world and make us both run away from the world's gazes." I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, but this has to be said.

"Because you were an _anomaly_ like me, you felt alone. Alone with the fact that no one would ever look at you." Natsumi jumped down from the building from where she was sitting on, and started to walk up to me. Her grip around her broom began to tighten.

"Is that all? You've gotten everything down about my plan. And now what? You think that's going to stop me? You think everything changes because you know about my plan!? You wanted to become friends with me because of the fact that I'm lonely!?" Our faces was close to one another's. Just like how this all started, this had to end.

"...Yes, that's exactly what I think. The question is: what do you think, Natsumi?"

"I...I" She's beginning to hesitate. She was starting to lose her grip of her broom. What did she want to do with her life from here on out?

"Natsumi...I want to be your friend to save you. Please, let's put this all behind us and walk forward...together. We might not be noticeable, but even us irregulars could help each other out."

"I...I want you dead!" Saying that, Natsumi gripped onto her broom once again, and began to charge a powerful magic attack. I had a feeling that this was going to be the outcome of this meeting. Me, dead on the floor, and Natsumi, running away again.

_When did this all go wrong?_

As I closed my eyes to prepare for the attack, I could feel the pressure that was building from the broom. She wanted to end this in one shot, didn't she? Shido...it looks like I'm an hopeless cause aren't I? Whether the connection was there or not for the blue tooth, I decided to speak my final words.

"Shido...when I'm gone...save everyone that acts just like me. You need to know that there are people are out there, just like me, that need your help. Save them, Shido...you're the only one I that I can rely on." After saying that, I could feel a shine of light in front of me, and I no longer felt the pressure from Natsumi's broom. Instead, I felt something on me that made me feel strange...

Natsumi...who looked like a child, had began hugging me...

Before I could comprehend what was going on, Natsumi spoke:

"...B-But I'll keep you alive for now. After all..." Natsumi looked at me in my eye.

"I can't just kill my first and only friend...right?"


	7. Beginning of a Date?

I didn't expect that my life will change that much when I first came to school. At first, my only job was to work on my school work. I usually did get tired a lot, so I tend to sleep a lot. But now, ever since I met Natsumi, the schedule had change drastically.

I became a criminal, I was targeted by a Spirit, I met Shido Itsuka, and met strange odd people in my dreams. When I come to think of it, I haven't seen Muemi for a while now. She's been...inactive for the time being. She's probably planning something with a fake version of my house to abduct me again. I'm kind of glad that I haven't been there for a while now. Staying at Shido's house feels...a lot more lively than my house.

"Oi! You two slackers, wake the hell up! Especially you Kioshi, you have school today!" Kotori, who had barged into the room without my consent, had started yelling at me. Wait, did she say two?

"Mhmhm..." I felt something tug on my shirt from my bed. Don't tell me, did she seriously do this again?

"I'm too tired...come wake me up in 10-20 minutes."

"Natsumi! How many times do I have to tell you to stay in your own bed! Get out of it now!" Is she always screaming in the morning?

"Why do I have to~!? Kioshi's bed is way more comfortable~!" Natsumi had risen from my bed with only a T-shirt and her undergarments.

"Stay. In. Your. Bed! I'm not telling you again!" With that said, Kotori slammed the door to my room and left. I wonder why she's so upset right now? She must not be a morning person.

"Fua~! Such a wonderful morning! Don't you agree, Kioshi?" With her messy bed hair in her face, it was kind of hard to reply.

"Hm? Kioshi? Are you still here?" Natsumi finally moved her messy hair from out of her face and stared at me.

"Oh, why aren't you speaking?"

"Your hair was in the way..."

"Was it funny?"

"...I guess."

"..."

"..." It was a awkward silence between the both of us. While it has only been a few days after the meeting, we still weren't on 'conversation' terms. Since then, I would only wake up to Natsumi sleeping next to me in my bed. I didn't have a problem with it at all. If she was comfortable doing this, then I should probably let her be.

"So, Kioshi..." Natsumi started off.

"Yes?"

"You...have school today, don't you?" Was there something wrong with me going to school? Just yesterday, Shido and the others had been able to get rid of the criminal records that were on me. I had to say that I was glad that they were able to help me out. With that, I was finally free to go to school and have a ordinary life again.

But would it still be ordinary with Natsumi here?

Natsumi had been clingy for the most part. While there isn't anything wrong with that, she was still a Spirit. I'm pretty sure that people that I don't know about, would most likely be after her. The AST was after her, but they haven't been active ever since the day we've first met. Were they planning something for the right time?

"I was wondering...if you could stay here and...not go to school." I only stared at her for a short while before asking her my question.

"Is there...a particular reason as to why you want me to stay?" She started to play with her index fingers as if she was nervous.

"Well, um...I...don't want to be alone."

"You wouldn't be alone. I'm...pretty sure there would be someone here while we're at school." While Natsumi was done with the things that she's done in the past, she was still going to be hard to handle.

"B-But, I wanted to play around with you. School is only getting in the way between that..." I don't know what to do now. Go to school and finish the work that I haven't completed yet, or make Natsumi sad, where she could potentially become unstable by the second.

"I think you should stay Kioshi." Jumping a little, I turned to see Shido standing behind me. When did he even open the door?

"S-Shido! D-Don't scare me like that!" Shido laughed from my reaction. Don't tell me that he's going to be doing this often.

"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help but listen to the conversation from outside your room. Anyway, I think you should stay and keep Natsumi company."

"B-But what about my work from school?" I really sound desperate here. It's probably because I _was _desperate.

"Don't worry about it. The work that you're missing is already done." At this, my eyes widened.

"Already done? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that it's already done, Kioshi. I've completed them for you as a thanks for your help." 'A thanks for your help?' I thought the deal was to get rid of my criminal record if I managed to stop Natsumi.

"Y-You didn't need to any of that! I could've done them myself!" Shido started laughing again. Does he really like seeing my reactions?

"You're making a huge deal out of this, Kioshi. There wasn't anything that important, so don't worry about it."

"If you say so." While I was grateful for his help, he didn't need to do anything of the sort like that. Before I could say anything more, Shido had pulled me back a bit to whisper something into my ear.

"Kioshi, look, it wasn't just my idea to have you stay here. It was all of us. Well, Kotori was against it at first, but now, she's okay with it." Shido whispered.

"Okay..."

"But we weren't exactly planning to have you stay in the house all day. While you did stop Natsumi, we haven't exactly _saved_ her yet." That's right. Shido had the ability to seal a Spirit's ability when he...kiss them. But it wasn't going to be easy when she does is stick around with me all the time.

"So, for science, we need you to take her out on a date."

I'm sorry what? Did he just ask me to take her out on a date?

"A-A date!?" As my voice was a bit louder than Shido's, he quickly closed my mouth with his hand.

"Shh. Yes, a date. Remember when I said that Natsumi had shown no signs of interest towards me?"

"Yeah.."

"While I could be trying to open her mind a bit, we, well Kotori, wanted to _experiment _on you." 'Experiment?' I don't think I like where this is going. What kind of plan does she have for me?

"..."

"So while you're taking her on a date, Kotori and Reine will be observing you. Don't worry, they won't be bothering you as to what you should do or not. They will only be watching from the sky." It was until now, that I remembered something that had happened when I went to talk to Natsumi when they wanted to assist me.

"Um, Shido, I know this isn't my business but, what happened on that day when I talked to Natsumi?" Shido stood there for a second in thinking posture.

"It's hard to say. The system, as to what tells me the options when I'm on a date, had suddenly went crazy. Kotori and her crew wasn't even to restore it until after you two got back that day."

"Strange. I'm sure there could be a reasonable explanation as to why it happened." Shido only nodded before leaving the room. Was there something he wasn't telling me? While it did go crazy, according to Shido, but how exactly did it go crazy?

"Kioshi." Natsumi had called my name again. I forgot she was in the room.

"Oh, Natsumi, I have some good news for you. I'll be staying here today." Natsumi smiled at this. It's good to see her happy like this.

How strange...

Why do I feel relieved when she's happy like this?

"Really? Then let's spend a day together!"

"Haven't you been with me since that day?"

"Did you say something, Kioshi?" While she kept smiling, I had a feeling that her smile had been filled with venom now.

"N-Nothing. I think going out is a wonderful idea..." I hate to admit it, but I'm kind of scared about the idea of going on a date. I haven't experienced love throughout my entire life, and now I suddenly have to take a girl, that has powers that could easily destroy the Earth, on a date.

"Good, because I know just the place as to where we could go." Here's a more weird perspective of this: I'm taking a child out on a date. While she could transform herself into a 20 year old woman, even if her body was mature, she still had the mind of a child.

"Lead the way, I guess..."

* * *

_*Ding* _

There has to be some kind of curse coming here. Why were we back at the abandoned amusement park?

"We're here!" Natsumi seemed ecstatic to be here, so I guess I shouldn't question as to why we're here. If she's going to have fun here, then I'll let her be.

"So, what do you want to do Natsumi?" Maybe I shouldn't ask have asked that. This was an abandoned amusement park. Nothing would be in service here.

"Hm, we should try to turn the power back on for first." Well, at least she has a plan.

"Good idea. Let's hurry and find the power room." She looks happy. It would be upsetting for me to let her down now.

And so, we went out to find the power room. Since this was a huge and complex amusement park, it's kind of hard to find it. It was still the evening so we had a lot of time on our hands to find it.

"Found it!" Natsumi had pointed out where the power room was. The huge sign on top of the building saying: POWER ROOM, was a huge give away. At least it gave us a sign as to where it was. Now that I think about it, we should've probably looked at a map instead of wasting our time like this.

Entering the building, there was only one path that led to the power room, so we walked down the path. Natsumi was beginning to shake as we walked down the narrow corridor. Was she scared?

"Natsumi...are you alright?" She only looked at me with a bit of tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm alright..."

"Are you sure? You look a bit scared right now. You could wait outside while I continue."

"No! What if something happens to you!? I can't just leave you in here alone!" Her eyes looked to the ground now. She was still shaking. I can't help but say that she's right. Even if she was scared, she has powers. She could easily defend herself while I couldn't. Maybe I should lighten the mood a bit.

"Hey Natsumi."

"Y-Yes?"

"Could you...hold my hand?" On Natsumi's face was a tint of red on her cheeks.

"H-Hold y-you're hand!? Why do I need to d-do that!?"

"Well,I'm kind of afraid of being in here. It's dark, and I don't really like the dark a lot. And besides, what if something did happen while I was in here? I don't have any powers to protect myself from any bad guys. So..."

"O-Of course you could hold my hand! M-My friend is s-scared s-so I have to protect him! Here." With that said, she gave me her small hand for me to hold. As I took it, she stopped shaking. I'm glad this worked. At least she's a bit more happy now.

After minutes of walking down the path, we finally reached the power room. Al that was here, was the control panel, and the lever.

"It's covered in webs..."

"Well, this place was abandoned, Natsumi. I don't even think the power would even work anymore."

"It...wouldn't hurt to try though..." She said sadly. Great, I shouldn't have said anything to her. Now she's back to being negative now.

"Okay, I'll give it a try." As I moved the spider webs out of the way, I pulled the lever down and waited.

And waited...

And waited...

And waited...

"Sorry, Natsumi. I guess it doesn't work." I was a bit disappointed as well. I was kind of hoping that this would still work.

"It's...okay. We could always try going out somewhere else." It doesn't feel right for me to make her feel down.

"Alright..."

_*Ding*_

As we were about to leave the room, suddenly, electricity had surrounded the lever.

"What's happening!?"

"Natsumi!" I quickly moved Natsumi out of the way from the electricity that had been shot out of the control panel.

"T-Thanks..."

After a short while, the electricity had stopped. It doesn't make any sense. Why had electricity suddenly come from nowhere?

"Is it over?"

"I-I think so."

"Where did that electricity come from?" Her question was as good as mine.

"I...don't know. The only thing important is that we're safe."

"Y-Yeah..." It was another awkward silence between the both of us. No matter where we'll be, there would always be that one awkward moment.

"Um, Kioshi?" Having my name said had quickly brought me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear something? What do you-" It was until now, that I heard something out of the ordinary.

Why were there music playing from the outside?

"Is that music?" Natsumi asked me.

"I-I think so. Let's check it out."

"Yeah..." After leaving out of the building we found something that was even more strange...

Why was the amusement park operating?

"Kioshi, are you seeing this?"

"I think I do." No matter what, something would always come out of the ordinary when I'm around.

I'm just hoping that after all of this, nothing else happens.


	8. She's Going to Kill Me One Day

"Natsumi, don't go too far!"

"Then keep up Mr. Sloth!" Without even touching me with her powers, she was going to kill me. After that strange moment with the electricity, the amusement park was suddenly operational. As to why, I don't really know.

"Kioshi, let's go on the tea cups!" The tea cups? They actually have a ride that's called that? Because I didn't go to amusement parks, I wouldn't know that much about any of these rides. As Natsumi hopped on one of the tea cups, I went to the control panel for the tea cups, and started it up.

Getting on the tea cup, is going to be the worst possible decision in my life.

Well, second or third...

"So, what do we do now?" Natsumi's head tilted to the side as she looked at me oddly.

"You haven't been on this ride?"

"Well, I haven't been on a single amusement park ride."

"What! How haven't you gone on an amusement park ride?"

"I...don't really think it was necessary for me to visit one. Is that bad?" Natsumi's lips had now curved into a smile.

"Is it bad? Then how about... this!?" As she said that, she started turning the wheel that was in the middle of the tea cup.

"W-Wait! What's going on!?" The tea cup had started to spin uncontrollably. I had gripped the top of the tea cup in a fearful manner.

"Hahahahaha!" Natsumi was having too much fun to answer me. Why was the tea cup even spinning to begin with? Was it because she was turning the wheel?

"Come on Kioshi! Spin the wheel with me!" She wanted me to spin it too? Aren't we already going spinning too fast?

"O-Okay." I don't even know what came over me. If she wanted me to spin it along with her, then I guess I should help then. Letting go of the tea cup, I started to spin along with Natsumi.

"A-Aren't we going too fast!"

"Nonsense! There's nothing wrong with spinning fast, is there!?" Well, at least my stomach isn't acting up. Thank the heavens that I don't have motion sickness.

After a few minutes of spinning in a circle, the ride was slowly stopping. "Aw, is that it? I was kind of hoping for some more!" Natsumi started whining after the ride was over. Did she really that ride a lot?

"Anyway, did you have fun, Kioshi?"

"I... don't know. My head is spinning, does that help?"

"Hm, at least it's something then. To the next ride!" If there was another ride like the previous one, then I'm sure she's trying to kill me.

"How about that one!? It picks you up high, and then suddenly drops you!" What exactly did that mean? We only walked a few steps before finding a new ride. She must really like these rides.

"Um, sure, I guess." As Natsumi sat on one of the seats, I activated the ride, and quickly went to the seat that was next to Natsumi.

"Strap up Kioshi!" Bringing down some strange thing that was over Natsumi's head, she was already set.

"A-Alright." Doing the same, I was prepared for the worst. I can't help but feel nervous.

"So, what was this thing going to do again?" As we were going up, I asked this.

"It's going to suddenly drop us back onto the ground." Her bland explanation had only made me even more nervous.

"Suddenly drop us? You mean we don't know when it's happening?"

"Hey, knowing the unexpected ruins the fun,right?"

Yup... she's trying to kill me.

"The unexpec-ah!" As I tried to question her logic, we were suddenly being pushed down towards the ground.

"Hahahahah!" She was laughing while we were falling. How was any of this fun to her? It feels like I'm about to die!

* * *

"Feeling better yet?" After getting off of the ride, I had asked Natsumi if I could sit down for a few minutes.

"Y-Yeah. I think I'm done with rides for the time being."

"Aw, can't we just do one more? I promise this won't be crazy!" So the previous ones were crazy? It was confirmed: she _was_ trying to kill me.

"Okay, one more. We don't want to be out for too long. We still got to eat Shido's dinner." Natsumi giggled at this.

"Alright,alright. I feel like you and Shido would be a perfect match together. If he was a girl, then he would be a perfect wife for you."

"Please don't play around like that. Shido is a good friend, that's all. He makes good food, and helps me out. And besides, there's no way you can turn a male into a female. It's impossible."

"Oh? And if I can do this..." Saying this, she turned into her adult form.

"Then nothing is impossible. I'll stay like this for a while. I can't stand that fact that you can tower over me whenever you want." I don't think it mattered to me to begin with.

"Do you not like your child form?" As she stopped walking, she clenched her hand.

"Don't worry about it. Lets just keep doing this alright? The sooner the better." And with that, she walked to the wherever she wanted to go.

"Natsumi..." Following her, I couldn't help but be worried about her. Was being lonely the only problem that she was facing? Or was there something else that I was missing?

I stood my distance away from her for now. I think I should give her the privacy for now. Well, until we reached the next ride that is.

"We're here." As she said that, I looked at the ride. It was more like a ride that was made for children. Do we really need to go on this ride?

"So, what's this ride?" I asked her.

"..." Strange. Why was she quiet?

"Natsumi?" Touching her shoulder, she flinched a bit.

"Huh? Oh, sorry about that. I was... thinking to myself. Don't mind me."

"Are you sure? You want to talk about it?"

"We don't need to. Let's just get on the ride and go home." Natsumi wasn't in the mood anymore. But why? Was it because of me?

"Natsumi... let's talk about it. Remember, we're... friends. I'll lend the ear that you need right now. From now until the end of my life." To the end of my life, huh? I wouldn't imagine myself saying that.

"...Later. We'll talk about it later. After the ride." With that said, she hopped onto the ride. Was that a fake horse that she was sitting on? She still hasn't told me what the ride was, but I don't it matters right now. After activating it, I sat on a horse that was right behind her. Soon after, it began with a song.

"So, what does this ride do?"

"..." She was thinking to herself again. I wonder what she's thinking about. The horses that we were sitting on was going up and down with the rhythm of the song.

"..." I silently stared at Natsumi. Her hair was swaying with the wind, and she gently moved the strands of hair that was in her face. She had a genuine smile as the ride continued.

She looked... pretty like this. She should keep smiling like that.

Wait, what?

Did I really think that about Natsumi?

Natsumi's... making me feel strange. I don't know why, but I've been thinking about her multiple times now. She had always been on my mind ever since we settled our differences. But why though? We're just friends, aren't we?

"I'm... sorry." Her words had suddenly brought me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for all of the things I've done. I've... been such a nuisance haven't I? To you, and to Shido."

"No, you haven't. It was your idea to have some fun with me, and I went along with it. Nothing you've done so far has nothing to do with being a nuisance."

"That's not it!" As she said this, she turned herself towards my direction.

"I made you a criminal, and yet, you still treat me like this!? What have I done to deserve this kind of treatment!?"

"..." I promised to lend my ear, and I will. All I need to do is listen to her, and give her my mind.

"Tell me, Kioshi! Why do you still consider me as a friend! I want to hear it from you again! Please!" Natsumi had gotten off of the horse and walked up to mine.

"I decided to be your friend without no one else telling me to do so. I decided-no, I wanted to be your friend from the beginning." Natsumi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"From the... beginning?" Her eyes was starting to be filled with tears now. I might have a problem with making girls cry now.

"Yes, the beginning."

"But... why?"

"For all of my life, I had always wondered: why didn't no one pay attention to me? I had no friends, and I have no parents. I was... alone. But then, you suddenly appeared. A Spirit, who should have not cared for human life, had started talking to me. I was... confused. I was confused that someone wanted to actually wanted to talk to me. I... didn't even know how to start a conversation until you showed up." I shouldn' tell her about Mumei and that other woman. While they were strange, they did also cared about me. However...

Were they even real? They only appeared from my dreams, so are they actually just beings that I created in my mind?

"But even so, I ruined your life! Why didn't you choose to hate me!?" She had gotten closer to my face now. With the tears in her eyes, I wiped them off for her. She was suffering... wasn't she? Suffering with the guilt that appeared while she was ruining mine, and many other lives. She was beginning to lose hope that no one cared about her.

To her, that was the only option she had to finally have someone notice her.

"Because I didn't want to. I didn't think you were a bad person to begin with." Tears were pouring from her eyes now.

"Even if I did keep coming back to make fun of you?"

"It doesn't matter. I know that deep in your heart, you only wanted to keep coming back so you can check up on how I was doing." Regardless of the tears, she started to laugh a bit.

"Y-You idiot..." She wiped the tears away now.

"I might just have to agree with you there. Ever since we've met, I've been making stupid decisions. I guess I-" I couldn't make up another word. Natsumi had closed the space between us, and my lips had touched another surface that I haven't felt before.

It felt... soft.

But soon after, my mind had been clouded with multiple thoughts. Thoughts that _weren't _ my own. Thoughts that were only centered about one thing:

Me...

Whose were these?

Were they... Natsumi's?

From the moment we met...

The conversations that we made...

From the beginning to now...

_Something _was inside my body. _Something_ that wanted to be let out from it's dormant cage.

It was like a wave. A wave of unfamiliar energy had broken out of its cage, and it started to fill my body.

After a few minutes, Natsumi moved away from me with shocked eyes. I'm guessing she saw something that was similar to my own thoughts.

"W-What was that? And Kioshi! You glowing!" As she said this I looked at my hands and I noticed that I was, in fact, glowing. But why was I glowing? And what's more important...

_It's green._

"Natsumi... you're glowing as well."

"Huh? I am?" She very much was. And what's amazing about it, is that the strange energy surrounding her is reaching all the way into the sky. But then, so was mine.

In a second, both of the green pillars had suddenly diminished into particles, and into our bodies. Why was there always something bad happening to me?

"Um, that was strange. I never seen that before."

"Kioshi, did you see anything strange when I... you know." I was right. She saw it as well.

"Your thoughts? I guess you can say that I did. You've seen mine didn't you?" To my response, she simply shook her head. So she didn't see anything like that?

"No, it was like... a dream. I... was someone else and you... were dying. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again-" I don't know what's happening to her, but I had quickly grabbed onto her shoulders and shook her.

"Natsumi, snap out of it!"

"H-Huh? I-I'm sorry, I must've dosed off. I-I think we should g-go home before somebody finds us." No, there was _something _ she saw when she... um, kissed me. Wait, she kissed me? Why did I notice this until now?

"Okay, then. But before we go, are you feeling alright?" I'm really concerned now. She's really shaken because of what she saw.

"Um, I feel a bit lighter than normal. Does that help?"

"Well, at least that's something." I was trying to tease her from a previous moment of time we had, but I don't think she's playing around. She's back to thinking to herself now. Something wasn't right here.

"But another thing, Natsumi." Bringing her out of her thoughts, she looked back at me.

"Yes?"

"Why did you want to come to this place anyway?" Hearing my question, she took her time to answer back.

"Because... I feel like I've been here before. My memories are hazy, but I feel like someone took me here when I felt sad." Her memories are hazy? Does that mean that she doesn't remember anything?

"Here's a question, do you remember what your life was like before coming here?" She simply shook her head.

"I don't. All I remember, is that this was the first place that I landed at when I came to Earth. I feel... connected to it somehow." This place has to do something with Natsumi's memories then. Now that I think about, she said that every time she landed here, the AST was already waiting for. Then that means that the AST had already predicted where she would always be located at.

But then, why aren't they here?

"I think I had enough for the day now." She started to stretch her body now, showing nearly everything to me. Wait, why am I paying attention to Natsumi's body? I know she's in her adult form, but I never paid attention to that.

"Okay, then are you ready to-wait, are you blushing?" Blushing? There's no way I would be blushing right now. I never blush.

"B-Blushing!? I-I'm not blushing! I... I was taken off guard by that kiss that you did, that's all!" Bad choice of words Kioshi, bad choice of words.

"Oh? Blushing over a kiss now, are we? If you can become this red, then I wonder what'll happen if-"

"DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE! WE'RE GOING HOME!"

"Oh my, your whole personality changed real quick. Almost similar to a tsundere."

"What you call me!? I-I'm not a tsundere!" I'm not kidding. I don't even know what a tsundere even is. Has she called me that before a lot? Because I feel like she has.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Tsundere." I don't know why, but I'm really started to become a bit annoyed now. How many times do I have to tell her? I am not a tsundere. She's been calling me that ever since... ever since what exactly? Why do I feel aggravated when she calls me that word? I haven't heard that word before ever in my life.

But it feels nostalgic all of a sudden...

"C-Could you just bring us back home? It's getting late and-"

"Way ahead of you!" As she said this, she suddenly picked me up bridal style. Wait, bridal style!?

"W-What are you doing!?" I was actually scared as to why she was doing this. What came over her all of a sudden?

"I'm taking us back home."

"O-Okay, then why are you carrying me like this? Why can't we just ride on your broom?"

"Don't feel like it. I suddenly have the urge to run all of a sudden. I feel like I can run a marathon around the entire city!" She's talking crazy now. She's actually becoming crazy!

"Wait, let's just calm down for now!" She was already beginning to run. Green electricity had surrounded her feet as the ground beneath her was suddenly about to break.

"And... liftoff!" As soon as she said this, she began to run at a unrecognizable speed. I haven't seen her run before, but this was too fast!

"I didn't think I could run like this! This is way too fun!" As she continued to run, she started to laugh. Well, it's confirmed:

She's going to kill me...


	9. Wait For Me Until That Day

_"Kukukuku, back again are we?" Her silent laughter had made me open my eyes again. I don't need to wake to this mess again. I need the time that I want._

_"It's... you again. You still want to affiliate yourself with someone like me?"_

_"So sorry, I couldn't help myself. Its your... 'desire' that's making me so interested in you~" She's as weird as the rest of them. They all have their own personality, but what is it that makes her the weirdest of the bunch? _

_"..." _

_"Not choosing to speak again?" Hiding her teasing smile, I chose to go on the offense. _

_"No, I just want to listen to something else that isn't you right now." _

_"Is that so? Then I'll just need to be a bit closer..." She shuffled herself to stand close to me. _

_"So all you could hear is my voice in that little head of yours~" She whispered in my ear. She really is strange. _

_"Whispering in my ear doesn't mean I have to listen to you." She started to caress my cheek with a blush on her face. _

_"But you responded, didn't you?" _

_"I wanted to give my opinion on your decisions. You're not the only one that wants to hear my voice." Her hand started to travel lower and lower on my body. My throat, my stomach, and..._

_"And not the only one that wants to 'touch' me... pervert." I stopped her hand from travelling anywhere else beyond that point. How long must I deal with these women? _

_"You can't blame a woman as to what she likes." _

_"...Staring at me would be enough for me." She then moved away from me. _

_"...Tell me, how many times has it been?" I raised my eyebrow in question. _

_"Probably... more than I could count."_

_"My, they must really want you to live don't they? Then again, I can't talk even if I wanted to." I turned to her direction to ask a question. A question that has been bothering me ever since me met. _

_"What do you want from me?" _

_"How many times have I told you?" _

_"Answering a question within a question is rude." _

_"You can't say that to me. You've done that a lot in the past." Crap, she had a point. I was only confused as to what these people even wanted from me. You can't blame me! _

_"Because I 'want you,' that's all you need to know." _

_"Okay, answer in a way where I don't get the wrong idea." She giggled at this. She was a enemy to all men. Well, to at least to me that is. She's a perverted woman. _

_"And I'm the pervert you say? I mean what I say. I'm a woman with needs, you know. What's wrong with me anyway? Something wrong with my body that you don't like~?" _

_"..." I quietly stared at her. I didn't want to answer her question because I knew she was going to tease me. _

_"Ouch, so mean..." She pouted like a child. A 20-year old woman should not be pouting like that._

_"Anyway, you should be glad! I don't think there as been any man in the world that has women like this to be after you. No matter how destructive most of us are, we still need love."_

_"Inverse Spirits do not need love. All that matters to you all is destruction." _

_"Hm, I guess you are right. But then, you are also wrong. While I am not part of their party, I will ask this: What do you think happens when a Spirit doesn't have love?" Again with these weird questions. How exactly would I know the answers to these questions? _

_"..." _

_"Because if they don't, then all they would destroy... would be themselves." Themselves, huh? Should I feel bad for them in the slightest? They did destroy my world after all. _

_"All because of love? If it is true for what you say, then why aren't you stepping into the same madness they have? Why not destroy as much as them?" _

"_...Because __I__ have already found the love that __I__ needed." She was... smiling. She __showed__ a genuine smile that __I've__ never __seen__ bef_ore.

"_You might not remember it, but you should always try to." Love... __such a__ familiar and comforting word yet, __I__ still hated it for not understanding it._

_"And besides, no matter where you go, __I__ will 'always' find you. You will never escape these feelings that __I__ have for you. I will even go against 'myself' to have you."_ With that said, she disappeared into the shadows. Just like she always did.

_Inverse Spirits... __I__ don't know that much about them, but they were the reason was to why my life ended up like __this__. Especially that 'lady' ever since __I__ met her, I knew something was different about her than the rest of Spirits._

_But it wasnt just the Inverse Spirits that did this to me. It still confuses me to this very day._

_Dreams __weren't__ supposed to come to reality, no matter how real it may be._

_"Kurumi, you are really a strange Spirit." Even if __she__ continued to follow me __throughout__ my life, it only continue to get worse by the day. I __could__ only dream of my life going back to the way it was, but sadly, the Spirits would never give me a break._

_Never..._

_When was the next life?_

* * *

"Kioshi, are you ready for school yet?" Shido's voice echoed throughout the halls.

"U-Um, give me one moment! I'm kind of dealing with something here!"

"...Is it Natsumi again!?" Shido was waiting downstairs with the rest of the Spirits. He was the cook after all. All they had to wait for was me to come down to eat. But I can't do that because of 'someone' getting in my way.

And I did not know who this 'someone' was as they lay on my bed...

"Kukuku, I found you, Kioshi~" Whoever this person was, I could tell that this person was going to make my life a bit more crazier than it already was.

_The clock is ticking..._

_The life that __I__ wanted to keep __peacefully__ was finally far away from being a dream. The next day was also coming close to me by the second..._

_The time you spent here will not be wasted anymore, Ki. I will make sure that you live..._

_I need you Ki..._

_The day __I__ finally hold your hand again is coming..._

_Wait for me..._


	10. The Beginning of the Beginning

_-When two opposites attract, they become an entirely different being. _

_What was the difference between these two opposite beings?_

_Were they the same being with each other's traits? _

_Or were they entirely different from each other? _

_There is no such thing as a difference. One's goals would even eventually lead to the other one's. _

_But for what reason? _

_What were these two being's purpose? _

_A world that was opposite of the other..._

_Yet, it was so similar. _

_Entwined with destiny, these two would eventually meet once again. Such a fate was destined to happened. No matter what separates these two beings. _

_One, who had created unworldly beings, and sacrificed everything to be with the one they love, No matter the cause. Whether to kill, or to save, she would be the one to have him in their arms. _

_One, who had everything in the one she loved, had been driven to despair. To "the beginning," to when everything that had started, she waits for him. _

_Were these two really different from one another? _

_It will be until the two opposites attract, will we find the answer._

* * *

"I've finally found you, Kioshi." With her black haired laid across my bed, she lays there. I was surprised to see that this woman was in my room. No, of course I was surprised. I didn't even know her! She looks to be around the age of 17 or 18, but regardless of that, I still don't know her.

"Um, could you explain to me why you are in my bed? And more important, who even are you?" Her black her had been covering her left eye. All I could see was her black frilly dress, and her ruby-red eye.

"So sorry, I didn't expect this to be "your" bed. I was hoping that this was Shido's. I have been parched ever since the last time I'd seen his reactions. But I guess this will do for now." As she gets off my bed, she walks around me.

Analyzing me...

"Your purple hair is really nice."

"Um, thank you?" She continued to analyze me. It was like she was looking for something that peeked her interest.

"Hm..."

"Do you... need something?"

"Huh? Oh, don't mind me. I'm just... a girl who's looking for something that looks... interesting." Looking for something interesting? She goes about this for about a minute. Without finding anything about me, she looked disappointed with her arms crossed.

"So, you know Shido?" My question had broke her out of her trance. After focusing, she smiled at me.

"Fufufu, eyeing me up are we?" She giggles as she noticed that I was staring at her.

"I'm the victim of being "eyed up" here." She's a strange one at the least. I'm used to Natsumi being in here, but-wait, where even is Natsumi?

"..." She wasn't laughing, and she wasn't smiling. She continued to look at me with a serious look.

"Kioshi!? Are you still there!?" I could hear Shido coming up from downstairs. That's just great, I have a random woman in my room and Shido is going to be the one who sees her first. At least he wouldn't be someone that would get the wrong idea so easily.

"...Kioshi." The woman had called my name to get my attention again. She opened the window that was close to my bed. Ah, I see. She's planning on escaping before Shido gets here. But there's one thing I noticed as the wind brushes past her hair.

Her right eye... it was a clock of some sort...

And it was ticking...

"I look forward to speaking with you again, Kioshi. I can't wait to talk to you about all sorts of things! Hm, how about a date? Does that seem good?" The strange woman who had broke into Shido's house that slept in the same bed as me, was asking me on a date.

Excuse me?

"A-A date? I-I'm sorry, but-"

"I can't wait! I'll be picking you later then!" After jumping out of the window, I went to look out of it and speak my mind.

"W-Wait a second! I didn't say that I-" She was gone. Suddenly, the door to my room slammed open. And the one behind it, was Kotori and Shido.

"Kioshi, are you alright!?"

"Huh? O-Oh, I'm alright. Did you need anything?" I probably shouldn't have asked that. That was one of my dumbest questions that I have ever asked.

"Today's school idiot, why else would we be calling for you! Come down and eat!" Kotori was upset again. Who am I kidding? She was always angry... well, at least at me.

"S-Sorry." I bowed my head apologetically. What a great morning this was.

"You don't have to apologize. Just come down to eat and we'll be heading off to school." Oh yeah, school's today.

Wait, school plus random woman who asked me on a date equals... crap.

"U-Um, Shido, can I... take the day off?" Both Shido and Kotori crossed their arms and raised their own separate eyebrow at me with a questioning look. They're really siblings aren't they?

"Take the day off? What for?" Kotori had been the one to ask me this. Shido opened his mouth to say something, but he chose to close his mouth. I guess she beat him to the question.

"W-Well, I kind of... um-"

"Spit it out already!" I flinched at the random outburst. I guess Kotori's patience is a being that shouldn't be tested with at all.

"I was... asked out on a date..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

No one said a thing after that. Their bland faces was the reaction that I needed to see, to tell that they were confused as much as I was.

"You were... asked on a date?" Shido asked me with a puzzled face. Was that too random? I only nodded my head for his question. Kotori only sighed in a disappointed tone.

"Sigh... You would rather go on a date than be in school? I didn't think you were this passionate on going on dates with women."

"T-That's not it! It's... just that it was a strange woman who asked me. That's all..."

"Oh? And who was this "strange" woman? How cute is she? How much do you know about her? When did you two meet? How long have you had feelings for her?" For each question she asked, she kept taking a step closer to me, until she was right in front of me.

"W-Well, we just met today. She was... kind of sleeping in my bed when I woke up." At this, Shido decided to speak up.

"Are you absolutely sure that it wasn't Natsumi? She could still shape shift, you know."

"She's not here, Shido. I told her to meet Reine in the Ratatoskr so we could do some tests on her." Tests on her? Was there something wrong with her?

"Is there something wrong with Natsumi?" I haven't seen anything wrong with her.

"Yeah... after that date yesterday, she's been acting... "weird." Isn't she always weird?

"What do you mean by weird?"

"It was like she was on a sugar rush. And plus, have you noticed that she had been glowing green energy when she came back?" A sugar rush? Well, she did run all the way back to Shido's house, so I guess you can call it a sugar rush.

"Okay... did you find anything?"

"We're not exactly sure, but I can only think of a hypothesis. It has to do with something with her kissing you. No, it has to be the reason as to why she acted like that." So the reason as to why she had acted like that, was because she kissed me?

"Don't worry about her right now. What I'm worried about, is the woman who had asked you on a date today. So tell me, who. was. it?" She sounded a bit more angry now. I didn't think Kotori cared about things like this.

"W-Well, I don't know her name, but I know what she looked like." Kotori grabbed my cheeks aggressively and started to rub them.

"Tell. . It. Was!" I don't know why, but my cheeks were starting to burn a bit. It's like, really starting to burn... am I going on fire!

"Shehadlongblackhairandsheworeagothicdressandhadanyellowclockeye." I think they were able to catch what I had said based on their shocked expressions.

"K-Kurumi? Why was she even here?" Shido was a bit nervous all of a sudden. Just by saying her name had brought a chill to his spine.

"Kioshi, explain, what did she want with you? Other than a date, that is." Kotori's face got serious all of a sudden. Did they really not like her?

"She did say something along the words of: "looking for something that interests her."

"Something that interests her, huh? Kioshi, this is a big deal. Right now, you're being targeted by the most dangerous Spirit:{Nightmare.}" So she was a Spirit. That could explain the reason as to why she disappeared so quickly.

"Nightmare? If you're saying that she's dangerous, then what should I do? I can't just ignore her, she knows where she could find me."

"Good point. For now, go meet up with Reine on the Ratatoskr. If we can find something about you there, then we can figure out what she wants from you." Reine was... that woman. The woman that I gotten bad vibes from. Something about her energy felt off.

And now, I have to meet her again.

"What should I do?" Shido asked Kotori.

"What else? You go to school, and we'll deal with the problem. And be sure to keep an eye on the others. With Kurumi randomly appearing, we can't tell what will happen to them." Shido nodded and went downstairs.

"Kioshi, let's go." Hearing Kotori, I left out the room and walked with her.

* * *

"Kioshi!" When arriving on the ship, Natsumi greeted me with a hug from out of nowhere. While she was still in her adult form, she knocked me down with her weight.

"H-Hello, Natsumi..."

"How's it going? Don't tell me that you missed my body's warmth in the bed~" I forgot that she gets all flirty when she's in this form.

"I'm... kind of suffering beneath you, you know."

"But you like it, right?"

"Enough! Natsumi, we're going to be busy right now so can you please leave?" I guess Kotori was annoyed that this greeting took too long.

"Boo~ I was having some fun~! Don't tell me that you're jealous~."

" .Now!" I think Kotori's on fire. No seriously, she is really on fire. Natsumi only got a giggle out of this.

"Okay,okay. I'll be leaving now. See you later, Kioshi!" With that said, she left our sights.

"Sigh... she's still a handful."

"Hey, Kotori, can I ask a question?"

"Make it quick."

"What happened with Natsumi's sealing?" I know this was a weird time to bring this up, but this had been on my mind for a long time.

"Sigh... Natsumi won't agree to go on a date with Shido. No matter what we say, she won't agree to our terms. The only reason as to why she decides to stay here, is because you're here. If you leave, she leaves. " Makes sense. Then again, this is Natsumi we're talking about here. She is like a child. If she doesn't get what she wants, then she'll just flip it around to the point where she has the advantage.

"So we're just going to ignore the fact that she could still be a target?" If she's not sealed, then people that I don't know about, would eventually pick up where she is. That's bad for me, and her.

"...She's not being found. In fact, I don't think no one will be able to find her. Not anymore."

"...What?"

"Like I said, something you did when you kissed her had changed something about her. We're not getting anymore detection for Natsumi. It's like she disappeared off the radar completely."

"So do you-"

"Kioshi..." A familiar voice had called my name from behind. Turning around, I saw Reine standing right behind me.

"R-Reine, was it?" I still felt that odd feeling that I got from her before.

_It's like she's not from this world..._

"Yes, that is my name." We stared at each other for some time now. I don't know what she wants from me, but I think she wants to keep looking at me in the eye.

_Like she met me before..._

"Reine, did you find anything weird with Natsumi?" Kotori tried getting her attention, but it was like she was more interested with my face, rather than the her question. I couldn't handle her gaze, so I started to stare somewhere else that was not her face.

"..."

"Reine?"

"..."

"Reine!"

"...Sorry, Kotori. I haven't gotten too much rest recently. What were you saying?" With the bags under eyes, it looked like she hasn't slept for at least 20 years.

"I asked you if you found something strange with Natsumi during your tests."

"Yes, I did. As strange as it may be, but I think Natsumi has gotten at least, a bit more stranger than normal." Kotori and I sighed simultaneously.

"Yes, we already know that, Reine. I'm talking about as to WHY she has been acting like this."

"Strange should not be a way to put it. What she experienced was kind of like a boost of some sort. Under the effects, all of her abilities had been improved. As to how long, I don't know." A boost? This doesn't seem to settle right for me. But then again, she was able to run really, really fast. And she traveled that fast without her broom. Then does that mean every single one of her abilities had been increased?

"So with a kiss from Kioshi, Natsumi had been able to increase her abilities. Doesn't that seem more like of an opposite to Shido's abilities?" Kotori was right. Shido had the ability to seal a Spirit's power. I'm fully sure, but am I able to boost a Spirit's power?

"Kioshi." Reine's voiced had broke me out of thought.

"Y-Yes?"

"[Nightmare] is a dangerous Spirit. She might know something about this 'boost' power that you have. Be sure to be careful with her."

"R-Right."

"But before you go out there, we're going to have to give you some tips as to what you can do with her. Well, we'll be leaving it up 'this' to help you out." She handed me a phone. Was this the thing that was supposed to give me some tips?

"Go ahead, turn it on." As I clicked on the button to turn it on, a girl appeared from the screen.

**"Hello Kioshi, I will be your assistant from now on. My name is Maria Arusu. If you have any trouble with me, please do not hesitate to return me to Ratatoskr for maintenance."**

Is that a woman talking from my phone?


	11. Two Sides of a Stick

"I-I'm sorry, did I... make you wait too long?" Arriving at the entrance of a cafe, I was surprised to see the girl who had randomly asked me out in my own bedroom. Well, it was Shido's bedroom so I guess I can't say that.

"Oh my, making a girl wait too long? You aren't making a good example of yourself, Kioshi-kun." Kun? Does she... commonly use that with Shido too?

"Sorry..." Seeing my head look towards the ground, she giggled at this. Kurumi... the Spirit who was said to be the most dangerous Spirit to ever exist, was laughing at me. Why did I even agree to go out with her?

"I'm joking, Kioshi-kun. You don't have to worry about a single thing. Thank you, Kioshi-kun, for deciding to come out with me." After giggling, she gave me a smile. While I wouldn't know if it was genuine or not, it still bothers me that she was said to be the "most dangerous". But for some reason... it does feel a bit genuine...

Like I've seen that smile before...

"Um, you're welcome?" My head tilted to the side instinctively.

"Why respond in a question?" She tilted her head as well, also while looking at me in the eyes.

"...Because I didn't know how to respond."

"Cute, so I think it's best if you continue to stay honest with me. If you wasn't, then I was going to have to kill you!" After she said 'kill', the color of my face had dropped and my heart started to beat very fast. Even if she was able to keep a smile that looks... very good, she can still be scary with what she says.

"I'm joking, Kioshi-kun." She started to giggle again.

"Oh." I felt a sigh of relief in my mind before I could start to feel normal again. I don't know what I'm going to do with someone who can make a joke out of anything that comes out of her mouth...

"Say, Kioshi-kun, how do I look?" Asking me about her appearance, I looked at the dress that she had decided to wear out in this... date? She wore a black and white frilly dress that had a huge black ribbon on her... um, I think it's best if I didn't sound like a pervert right now...

_"Kioshi-sama, say that she looks cute." _I hear a voice in my right ear from someone who was trying to help me with my "situation". Yes, I remember that Kotori had given me a blue tooth before I left out to meet with Kotori. She said that Maria, who was the AI of the Ratatoskr, help me deal with Kurumi. The plan however...

_I don't know why I agreed to going out with her..._

"Cute." I mumbled, trying to get rid of the thought that I completely had before in my mind. My face felt red, and I couldn't keep a straight face with Kurumi smiling at me like that.

"Hm? What is that you mumbled under breath~?" She etched closer to me as she said this. She's... not making this any easier.

"I said-"

"Kioshi-kun, you have to speak a little louder~!" She cupped her ear as if she couldn't hear me straight. Why is she... so weird? And plus, why is she causing a scene right now? Some of the people who decided to walk past us was starting to look back at us. Especially the male audience...

"I said it looks cute." This time I didn't mumbled. I said it clear as day.

"Cute, huh? Okay, then. Why don't we start exploring a bit?" For some reason, even while her bangs were covering her left eye, I could feel it piercing through my soul...

_...Wanting something from me..._

"S-Sure..." With that said, we started to explore the area, looking for things that would be most interesting to us. I can only say that I was worried. Worried of the fact that I don't even know what she's capable of. She's not Natsumi. She won't try to humiliate me to ruin my life.

So what's her reason for trying to call me out like this...?

-/-

It turns out that this was a rather... simple date. I'm sorry, I'm just... confused right now. I'm not getting what was making her "dangerous" as what Maria would warn me about her. She acted like a normal girl in her age and she just wanted to have fun. We explored shops, visited the cafe, and we kept looking around places that were 'fun' to her.

She's just... normal.

"Say, Kioshi-kun, have you tried the Pocky Game?" She asked me this after pulling out two chocolate-covered sticks from the box of candy that we've just recently bought. For me, I brought the strawberry version of this candy. I tend to like sweet things a lot. As of right now, we decided to sit a cafe that had tables outside of the building.

"Pocky Game?" Still, I will not lie. I don't even know what that was. Yes, I eat Pocky from time to time, but I never heard of a game where you can play with the Pocky.

"Oh? So you never heard of it. Well, rest assured Kioshi-kun, for I will teach it to you today." She brought out a single chocolate-coated biscuit stick, and showed it to my face.

"Now" She pointed at the end of the stick on her side. "The rules of the game is to simply reach the end of stick. I will be on this side, and you will be on the other side. Simple enough, right?" I nodded my head with a tint of confusion in my eyes. I couldn't help but say that yes, I was confused by rules.

_**"Do it, Kioshi-sama."** _I heard Maria's voice play into my ear again. Oh yeah, I forgot that I was listening to her advice ever since this date started. It seemed a bit weird too. Why was some of the 'advice' that she wanted to give me perverted? I had to think of my own options so I don't do anything stupid that would get me killed!

**_"Do it."_**

**_"Do it."_**

**_"Do it."_**

"You look confused, Kioshi-kun. I think it'll be better if we just play to see who will win. Ready?" She placed her lips on the end of the stick on her side. Complying, I placed mine on my side.

"Go!"With that, we both started biting. The taste of the chocolate filled my mouth with delight. I always liked Pocky. Even if strawberry was my favorite, I liked the flavor that settled in my mouth. As I started to reach the other end of the stick, I noticed something...

How was I going to reach the other end of the stick if Kurumi was-

"Okay, I lose!" I snapped the stick in half before our lips could even touch. She was... trying to kiss me? No, that wouldn't be right! We only had a single date and she was trying to... kiss me?

She's weird!

"Yay, I won~!" She clasped her hands together in delight of her victory. While I did discover her plan, she seemed to easily play it off as if it actually was a game. No, that wasn't a game! That was trap to kiss the person that would've lead to my imminent death! In a split second, Kurumi's face went serious all of a sudden. It was like...

She sensed something close...

"...Kurumi, what did you bring me out her for?" I don't know why, but I couldn't face her for some reason. Perhaps I was too embarrassed of the fact that this girl had almost tried to steal a kiss from me in a cover of a 'game'.

"Hm? I told you, I wanted to go out for a date, Kioshi-kun." Again, she tilted her head; confused by my question.

"You-" Before I got to finish what I was saying, I felt Kurumi's index finger lay on my lips. While she did this, she used her other index finger on her lips to say to me to stay quiet. But then, all of a sudden, she pulled me towards the wall, still wanting me to stay quiet. Of course, with the posture that we were in, I was... a bit red in the face. She had her hand passed next to my face, and her leg was between mine.

What even was this kind of moment?!

"K-Kurumi, what's going on?" She didn't say anything at first, instead, she looked towards the sky, and kept looking up. As I looked up, I could see something that easily caught my eye in the matter of seconds.

"AST?!" Kurumi quickly placed her hand over my mouth and looked at me with serious eyes. She... looks a little cool, I don't think I should lie about that.

"Kioshi-kun... run." I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. After a few seconds, she let go of my mouth, allowing me to speak again.

"Why run? Wouldn't it be best for the both of us to run?" If she's thinking about buying some time for me, then I think that she would be underestimating them. It looks like there's a bunch of AST waiting for something.

Or should I say _someone_?

"Kioshi-kun, I... have some bad reputation with these kinds of people. For you to be seen with me, it will only result in you getting killed. Now go, Kioshi-kun. I'm sure that they're looking for me, so it will be best if you ran away while you still can." She smiled at me again, this time, I knew it was a genuine smile. Why did I know this? Why was she said to be dangerous, only for her to care about my life like it was some sort of treasure?

"...Will you be okay?" She still held up her smile.

"Don't underestimate me, Kioshi-kun. I'm _much _stronger than I was before." What did she mean by before? Nevermind that, I need to get out of here. Giving her a nod, I left the area, looking for somewhere to hide.

After running for a like a hour or so, I was pretty sure that I was far away from the scene. While I wouldn't lie to say that I was concerned for Kurumi's safety, I'm sure to say that I'm glad to be away from there. I don't know what makes her dangerous, and I don't think I would want to find out then and there.

"It... seems safe here." I stopped in front of a clothing store, and started to catch my breath.

"Oh my, Kioshi-kun, you're late to our date. You know, that's not a way to show yourself to a lady." Hearing a familiar voice, I turned around to see the source of the voice.

"K-Kurumi?" She giggled and smiled at me. Why... did that feel a bit forced? What's going on with my head right now? Didn't Kurumi say to me to run earlier?

"Yes, and your name is Kioshi-kun. Is there something wrong?" She looked like Kurumi, but she wore something different. Instead of the black and white frilly dress that I saw her in like a hour ago, she wore a fully black frilly dress.

"Kioshi-kun."

"Y-Yes?"

"Is there something wrong?"

I... think I'm seeing two Kurumi's now...


	12. A Chilly Feeling

"I'm home..." Arriving back home, I announced my presence as I usually did. Before the sun settled for the day, I decided to tell Kurumi that it was close to my curfew. While I didn't have a curfew, I just needed to some time away from all of the stuff that just recently happened in the span of a day.

"No answer... I guess nobody's home." Taking off my shoes, I headed for my room so I could rest in bed. A little sleep is something that I need.

"Kioshi-san." After reaching my room, Maria's voice echoes from my phone once again. This time, without taking out my phone from my pocket, she instantly hovered over my phone in a holographic form.

...

...

"Hm? Kioshi-san, why is your position sideways?" She tilted her head after she asked me that.

It's because you're talking from the position of where my phone is in my pocket Maria...

"S-sorry about that!" Taking my phone from out of my pocket, I placed the phone onto the desk the was right next to the window of my room.

"Is there something you need, Maria?"

"Yes, I believe that we both need to discuss something that happened earlier in the day. At Ratatoskr, we recently found an huge spike of Spiritual energy that was close to where you met Kurumi the Nightmare for your date." Using her finger, she swiped to the left (her left) and it showed an graph of some sort.

"Which Kuru-"

"The first Kurumi that you encountered, Kioshi-san. Now then, coming down with a synopsis, I was able to determine that this spike of Spirit energy might has some connections to the First Kurumi that you had seen, Kioshi-san."

"That's amazing, Maria. Shortening everything into a summary would be most beneficial with the amount of research that you have to do. Do you mind me asking about how you were able to determine this?" An spike of energy that had relations to the First Kurumi? What kind of relations could that be?

"It was simple, Kioshi-san. All I had to do was connect to the city's camera's at the time that the spike had occurred and watched."

...So it didn't require a synopsis then.

"A-ah, I see. So, can you tell me what happened in the recording?" Again, swiping her finger, she showed a video that took place on a rooftop in the early morning of today. I don't recognize the building, but it doesn't matter. All I need to know is what happened at this specific time and place.

As the video started to play, everything seemed normal. The birds were landing onto the floor of the rooftop, the blue sky developed in the sky, the city's buildings looked ever-so glossy... but it was until after we hit the first minute mark, that something was wrong...

...In the middle of the rooftop, stood a lone female figure with long black hair that extended all the way to her hips. The figure looked at least of the age of 20, and she wore a fully black gothic dress. While that didn't all that interesting at first, it was something else that made me feel...scared.

A crack on the camera had developed; causing the video to become a little distorted.

...While she stood on the same rooftop, the blue sky was no longer blue. The flooring of the rooftop was cracked, and the city... oh god the city...

Why was the city destroyed...?

In a brief instance, the female figure that stood in the middle of the rooftop had a gun to her head. We wasn't able to hear what she said because the sound of the recording was making nothing but static. As soon as she pulled the trigger, everything that I had just seen disappeared. Like nothing had happened at all, everything was back to normal.

All that had change was the female figure that now stood in the middle of the not-so-destroyed rooftop. While yes, the change that had happened was that she was there, but what strikes me surprised, was that her appearance had also-

Wait, is that the same dress that the First Kurumi wore to the... um, date...?

_"Kioshi-kun... I'm coming! I'm coming back for you~!"_ As she sees the camera that hovered above her, she gave a smirk before shooting it down with her gun. Was that-

"Kioshi-san, it seems that you have a problem, right now." Before I had the time to fully think to myself, Maria had swiped the video and the graph away.

"This... seems hard to understand, Maria. What happened to the city in that-" Before I was able to finish my sentence, I heard the front door close. Is someone back home?

"K-Kioshi-san, w-we're home!"

"How you feeling after your first date, Mopey~? Come on down so we can see you~!" Ah, I see that Yoshino and Yoshinon are back from their journey out from somewhere. I should probably go down and-

Wait, who's 'Mopey?'

"Hide." That single word had raised the hairs on my arms. Her sudden serious tone had scared me beyond belief. Is everything alright?

"H-huh? Maria, what are you-"

"Kioshi, Yoshino and Yoshinon are still on Ratatoskr helping Shido with a recent problem with Origami." Wait, what-

"K-Kioshi-san, are you home? We're coming up..." If what Maria is saying is true, then who was Yoshino and Yoshinon that I'm hearing? Could it be Natsumi just playing a trick on me? No, there would be no reason to. Why would she even-

"Kioshi-san, open your window, turn off your lights and hide." Without wasting anymore time, I opened the window, turned off the lights, and hid in the nearest closet that was next to me.

...

...

...

The silence was starting to fuel my fear with my constant heavy breathing...

As I heard the wind blew into my room, I could also hear the footsteps that belonged to Yoshino as she's climbing up the stairs. Was it starting to become a bit chilly in my room? Maybe I shouldn't had opened my window.

"Kioshi-san, hold your breath for a little longer. Do not worry, I'm trying hurry and make a telep-" Before she was able to finish her sentence, my phone had cut off. It wasn't because of my phone being out of battery, it was because it had been frozen into ice. As 'Yoshino?' came closer to the room, I opened the closet door a little to see that there was a mattress of ice coming from the bottom of the door.

"Kioshi-san?" The door started to creak open. With each second of the door creaking open, I could hear my heart pump vigorously.

"Hm? He doesn't seem to be here, Yoshino." With the closet closed, I could hear Yoshinon's cute voice, but something feels wrong.

"Tch. Look, the window's open. He escaped before we even had the chance to catch him." Did... did Yoshino just click her tongue?

"Don't be upset, Yoshino, I'm sure we'll be able to follow him. I'm sure he didn't get that far away from us." All of a sudden, I heard a loud thud from where I could Yoshino and Yoshinon's voice.

"Find him and bring him back." Yoshino... why does she sound so cold?

"Don't worry, I'll try to not take too long. Who knows? Maybe one of the other Spirits had got to him first?" After Yoshinon said this, I heard something smash against the wall near the door.

"Just. Find. Him. Now!"

"No problem, Yoshino!" I heard a crash near my window; which was giving another reason as to why I could hear more wind coming inside my room.

"*(Sigh)* Why must he persist on running away from me?" I heard Yoshino sit on my bed as she started to wait on Yoshinon's scouting report. What was going on here?

"Ara ara, still acting like a child? You know, Kioshi wanted an _actual _woman to protect him, right?" A familiar voice had echoed into my head. Kurumi...

"You're still alive? How many times do I have to kill you just to make that you won't touch him again?" By the tone of Yoshino's voice, I could tell that she was annoyed by Kurumi's presence.

"Ah, I can see that you hold a conversation without stuttering now. What a improvement, Yoshino! I'm so proud of you~!" I heard Kurumi start to clap in celebration.

"Shut up. I have no problems killing another Kurumi without Yoshinon's influence on me." As she said this, it was starting to become even more colder. Looking down, I could see that my feet was frozen solid.

This... isn't good...! Maria, where are you?!

"So scary~! I'd be careful though! I don't think that our guest would appreciate it if you freeze him to death!" Wait, is she talking about me? Does... Kurumi know that I'm still here?

"What are you talking about? Kioshi-san isn't here!"

"Oh, the poor naive girl~! Do you really think that he's not capable of hiding under our noses? If I was you, then I would check the closet~"

She knows...

She knows that I'm here...! Just after she said this, I hear footsteps coming straight towards me. Becoming frightened, I closed my eyes, waiting for my imminent death to come before me.

Step...

Step...

Step...

Step...

Before I knew it, the closet door slammed open; awaiting me, was Yoshino's shock expression...

"K-Kioshi-san?" I could see her new reddened eyes staring down at me. Before I had the chance to fully look at her, I felt something tug my body into a random location. And before I even knew what happened to me...

"Kioshi-san, are you alright?" In front of me, stood Maria in a form that wasn't even displayed onto a phone. This was actually a form that Maria has to make her look human...

"Kioshi-san, are you alright?"


End file.
